You Found Me
by MissToastie
Summary: Starting the day where Charlie tried to convince Joey to make a statement about Robbo. - NOT GOING TO BE COMPLETE -
1. Chapter 1

**So, I wrote this chapter about *thinks* two months ago. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go anywhere with it, until I started writing some more chapters,**

**and now, I'm fairly confident that this could turn out to be a good long story, if people are willing to read it, haha. **

**I've written 6 chapters so far - which will gradually be posted, if you are interested in reading it.**

**The first few lines may be rather Deja Vu as I've written what Charlie and Joey said to each other in Home and Away, when they were sat down near the water and Charlie was trying to convince Joey to make a statement about Robbo and then I've taken it into an alternative universe. **

**This first chapter consists of a conversation about rape, It's really not that detailed, but yes, some people may not want to read. So just a friendly warning now =).**

**Oh and before I actually stop rambling and let you get on to read the story, I'm so gutted that I accidently named my other story "Can't Fight This Feeling" as**

**it's what I wanted to name this story! It would have been the *perfect* title for this story, argh, I'm kicking myself, really.**

**Ah well, nothing I can do about it now! haha. **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter (Let me know, K?) and hopefully I will be posting some more chapters up sooner rather than later =). **

**MissToastie. **

**x**

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**Chapter One :**

"I don't like guys... Any guys.... I'm gay" Joey turned her head from facing Charlie and looked out at the water "And that's not okay with my brother."

"That doesn't have to be apart of your statement, if that's what you're worried about" Charlie spoke as she kept her head facing Joey.

Joey breathed in to her hands and nodded.

"But" Joey began to speak; she turned her head and faced Charlie. "If this goes further, they will... start digging into my private life, and this might come out, right?"

Charlie looked out at the water and then back at Joey. "Your lawyers would probably want to argue that... you being gay contradicts him saying you were promiscuous and that you came on to him, yes."

"But it's not quiet proof."

"Maybe not, but it shows that his case is unreliable."

Joey sighed.

"I can't, I can't do it, I can't stand up in front of my brother and everyone and say it. Not When I haven't even had the guts to say it to the people in my own life, I can't stand up in a

Court and do it"

"Even if it means getting justice though? Even if it means putting this guy away so that he can't do it to anyone else?"

"Even if I thought there was the slightest chance of that happening" Joey paused and heavily breathed. "I didn't do what you told me to do, I didn't report him, I didn't go to the hospital, so what's the point?"

"Joey, there is no shame in being gay. No matter what your brother thinks"

"I guess it's easy not to have any hang ups" Joey let her eyes wonder Charlie "and you're a beautiful straight girl, but you have no idea what it's like being me"

"You're wrong" Charlie paused and stared out at the water.

Joey wiped her nose. "How am I wrong?"

"I'm fairly certain that I have some idea of what it's like to be you." Charlie pushed her ponytail to the back.

"How? How would you have the slightest clue to what it's like being me?" Joey asked through sniffles.

Charlie continued to stare out at the water in silence.

"Do you think, just because you're a cop and you've dealt with cases like mine before, that it gives you an idea to what it's like to be someone like me?" Joey snapped.

"That's not it at all." Charlie moved her head to face Joey.

"Well?"

Charlie licked her lips and looked back to the water.

"When I was 12 years old, I told my family that...I was interested in girls. It was Christmas day, so basically all of my family were there. Most of them just laughed and said it was probably just some phase I was going through, but my parents didn't think so, mum said that she always had a feeling that I was gay, and she said that she would always support me, no matter what. My father agreed with her, which disgusted my uncle. He stood there and said such awful things about gay people, all this crap that "They're sicko's" and that they "should be shot". He and Dad got into an argument and we went home early." Charlie took a deep breath and continued. "A few days later, he came around home, dad was at work and mum was next door. He was my uncle, so of course I let him in. We sat down and he just stared at me and then started asking me what it was I liked about girls. I felt very uncomfortable, so I excused myself and went up stairs, I put on some music and laid on my bed and the next thing I knew, my uncle was standing next to my bed, I sat up and asked him what he was doing, he didn't respond, he just slapped my face and kneeled on top of me" Charlie wiped away a few tears that had treckled down her face.

Joey placed her hand on Charlies back for comfort. Charlie looked at her and continued. "He pinned my arms down to the bed, I tried to move, but he was just too strong. He forced my legs apart" Charlie wiped her face as more tears fell. "I screamed, but the music was too loud for anyone to hear me."

Joey knew where Charlie was going, she knew what happened next and could see that Charlie was struggling to continue. "I'm so sorry Charlie. I honestly had no idea." Joey shuffled closer to Charlie. "I didn't even know you were gay, I just"

"Assumed I was straight?" Charlie looked at Joey, her eyes red from crying.

"I'm sorry." Joey looked down at the ground.

"Its fine...Look, I have to go. Work will be wondering where I got to" Charlie stood up. "Joey, I can't force you to make a statement. But" Charlie handed Joey a small card. "Here is my number; you can call me anytime you need to talk."

Joey took the card and thanked Charlie; Charlie slightly smiled and headed back to the police station.


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow! Thank you for the lovely reviews! =) **

**Sorry the first chapter and this chapter are so short, I'm just setting the story out **

**and giving you an idea of Joey and Charlie's lives. **

**The 3rd chapter will be up within 24 hours if it's wanted! **

**Anyways, enjoy chapter two, I'm off to write chapter seven! **

**MissToastie.**

**x**

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**Chapter Two :**

"Where've you been Collins?"

"Sorry Gibbs, I just had things to sort out" Joey jumped on the trawler. She was 20 minutes late back from work.

"That's fine, it's your lunch time tomorrow you've wasted, not mine."

Joey sighed and walked around to the other side of the trawler where she saw Aden cleaning the deck; he looked up when he heard foot steps.

"How did you go? Did you make the statement?" Aden put the mop down and walked over to Joey. "Have the cops charged Robbo?"

"I didn't make a statement, no" Joey walked away from Aden and started to get everything ready that was needed for the day.

"What? Joey, why not?"

"Because I can't Aden" Joey turned around and faced Aden.

"You can Joey, I'll be there every step of the way, so will Charlie" Aden placed his hands on Joeys arms.

"I can't. Now please, just leave it alone, forget it ever happened" Joey pushed Aden's hands away.

"Are you two going to do any work today or what? We're already a man down; we can't afford to be stuff arsing around!" Gibbs yelled.

"Yeah alright" Aden yelled back to Mick and then looked to Joey "You can't just let him get away with it Jo"

Joey clenched her eyes shut as she felt tears beginning to fill her eyes. She knew Aden was right. But she was too scared to do anything about it. If her brother found out that she was gay, he would kick her out and she'd have nowhere to live.

--

After a long day at work, Charlie was thankful to get home, she wanted to take a nice long relaxing bath and have an early night. She knew that wouldn't be possible as last night she told Ruby she could invite Nicole around for the night. Charlie sighed and walked inside the house, closing the door behind her.

"Hey good lookin', How was your day?"

Charlie turned around and was greeted with a kiss on her lips.

"It was long, very long" Charlie returned the kiss. "Too long"

"Right, so, you had a long day I take it?" Paige laughed and wrapped her hands around Charlie's waist.

Charlie let out a little laugh. "How did you guess?" Charlie pulled Paige into their bedroom. "I'm so regretting telling Ruby she could have Nicole over tonight" Charlie sighed and pulled her hair out of her ponytail.

"They're actually being really quiet! They're too wrapped in their mushy love movies too even think of talking!"

"Great, because I am sooo not in the mood to deal with giggling girls tonight"

"That bad of a day?" Paige questioned.

"Just this case that I feel way too familiar with" Charlie sighed and turned around and looked at her girlfriend. "Fancy taking a relaxing bath with me?"

"Oh of course! Anything to see you naked Miss Buckton!" Paige giggled and grabbed Charlie by her hand and pulled her toward the bathroom.

"Whoa, settle down Miss Andrews!" Charlie laughed. "I think if you pull any harder my arm just might fall off!"

"Oh well, you have another one!" Paige winked and kissed Charlie on her nose. "I can't believe we've been together for one year tomorrow" Paige grinned.

"Who would have thought you'd settle down?" Charlie laughed and unzipped the jeans that Paige was wearing.

"It's only been a year Charlie, I'm hardly settling down and having kids and a mortgage and two cars!" Paige laughed and ran her hands up the front of Charlie's shirt. Caressing her breasts before taking the shirt off and throwing it on the floor.

"So you don't think you've settled down a little?" Charlie playfully frowned and turned to fill the bath with water.

"Well, maybe I have the white picket fence and the double garage." Paige laughed.

"You sure are in a happy mood tonight" Charlie turned around and hopped into the bath, Paige following soon after.

"That's because you're home sexy legs!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Aww, ain't you all good little reviewers now! *grins* **

**Thank you all once again! You know I love hearing what you have to say!! :D**

**I wasn't going to post this until I woke up, but I thought I would do it now - you know, me being nice and all haha. **

**--**

**So, a few people have been 'Who the hell is Paige'. Paige is Charlie's girlfriend *nods*,**

**I wasn't just going to have Charlie being gay...and not in a relationship with anyone? **

**Would kind of make the story a bit ;**

***Gay Charlie meets Gay Joey, falls in love, nothing holding them back, they live together forever always***

**...yeah narh! I personally LOVE a little bit of complication in stories...gives me thrills**

**to read and write it! It also makes me want more so that I can SEE THE FINAL OUTCOME. **

***ahem* **

**Also makes the story a bit more interesting, you see. **

**--**

**Anyway,**

**So they've been in a relationship for, as you read, a year.**

**Could be going...smoothly...could not *evil laugh* all will**

**come out in due time! **

**-**

**Paulinemcc - You're pretty much on the right track with**

**one of the things you mentioned in your review =) **

**bimboinhales - *laughs* ahh...the two that are Ruby and**

**Nicole...what they are up to will also come out in due time.**

**AuthorW - I love that Aden is looking out for Joey too! I**

**see them as such good friends! I believe if Joey had stuck**

**around in the show, they would have become the best of buds!**

**-**

**Anyway, I shall stop rambling and post this up and head to bed, I have to be up in 4 hours to**

**go to TAFE..ha. I'm so going to be stuffed *sighs***

**-**

**Part Four will see some Charlie/Joey interactment!...is that a word?**

**I can't be stuffed looking it up..I'm off to bed! haha! **

**Let me know if you're ready for Chapter Four tomorrow! =D**

**ENJOY. **

**-**

**MissToastie.**

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**Chapter Three : **

"Where have you been?" A drunken Brett asked as Joey walked through the door.

"Have you been drinking?" Joey asked as she placed her bag in the hallway.

"Hey I'll ask the questions around here" Brett stood up and stumbled over to Joey. "Now where have you been? Work finished an hour ago"

"I just went for a walk along the beach" Joey could smell the alcohol on her brother's breath.

"That's not good enough Jo, I expected my dinner on the table half an hour ago" Brett leaned in closer to Joey.

"Get out of my face Brett" Joey gritted her teeth.

Brett shoved his sister and she stumbled back to the wall.

"Brett, please don't, I'm sorry. Just let me go and I will get you your dinner" Joey was shaking, she was terrified, she knew what happened to her when Brett was this drunk and angry.

Brett laughed and shook his head. "You are so fucking pathetic" A tear fell down Joey's cheek. "Crying is for the weak, Jo" Brett walked over to Joey, stopping centimetres away from her face "Oh, that's right, you are weak" Brett grasped his hand around Joey's neck. "Just like mum was"

Joey tried to push Brett away; she had tears rolling down her cheeks.

"You are such a cry baby" Brett hissed in her ear.

Joey thought that Brett would never let go, But the knock on the front door broke his grip, he walked away to answer the door and Joey slid down to the floor.

"Looks like you will have to cook double the food tonight, we have company" Brett announced as he walked back into the kitchen.

Joey looked up as she was holding her sore neck.

"Get up and start cooking then" Robbo smirked. "And don't worry about today, No hard feelings"

Brett grabbed two beers out of the fridge and passed one to Robbo and the two of them walked off into the lounge room.

Joey stood up, grabbed her bag and fled the house. There was no way she was staying in the house any longer, not when the both of them were drinking.

----

"Do you have to go to work this early?" Charlie walked up behind Paige and slid her arms around her girlfriend's waist.

"Unfortunately, I do. Rach called in sick and with Greg away, I'm the only doctor available." Paige turned around and kissed Charlie on the lips.

"Are you still going to be able to make it to the Diner tonight?"

"Of course!" Paige walked toward the door "6 pm, yeah?"

"Yes and don't be late" Charlie smiled and watched as Paige walked out the door.

"Happy anniversary, Happy anniversary, Happy anniversary, Haaaaaaaaaappy Anniversaaaaarrryyy!" Ruby loudly sang as she twirled into the kitchen. "Good morning sis, Where is Paigey?" Ruby walked up and hugged her sister.

"Morning Rubes." Charlie returned Ruby's hug. "She got called in to work for the day"

"Aw what? That sucks!"

"Yeah tell me about it. I took the day off work especially for today and now I have nothing to do all day!" Charlie sat down at the table.

"I could always stay home and we can chillax and watch some movies?"

"Nice try Rubes, but you have school!"

"Okay, okay, I was just trying to do a selfless act by offering to stay home and keep you company!"

"Yes, I'm sure you getting out of school for the day, lazing around on the couch watching DVDs and probably pigging out on junk food would be a selfless act" Charlie laughed at her younger sister.

"Well don't say I didn't offer!"

"I think I might go for a walk along the beach and enjoy my day off!" Charlie stood up and kissed Ruby on her head "Have a good day at school miss!"

--

"Soo. What are you going to do today?" Belle asked Aden as they linked arms, walking along the beach.

"Honestly? I have no idea. All I've done over the past few weeks is work, work, oh and yeah, more work!" Aden looked at Belle who laughed. "I guess I will find something to do. Sucks you have to work"

"Yeah tell me about it, but someone has to do the interview and it's a great opportunity, I just wish I wasn't so nervous!"

"You'll do fine. You're amazing like that"

"Thank you, what would I do without you?" Belle leaned her head on Aden's shoulder.

"You wouldn't manage, you'd constantly be like "Where's Aden? Where's my knight in shining armour? Where's my strong, handsome, spunky, sexy boyfriend?" Aden grinned.

"Oh definitely, I wouldn't be the same without my big headed boyfriend." Belle laughed and placed her hand on Aden's stomach. "Hey, is that Joey?"

Aden looked up and saw Joey lying on the sand, asleep.

"Yeah it is" Aden and Belle walked over to where Joey was sleeping, Aden kneeled down and softly shook Joey to wake her up. "Joey? Joey its Aden, wake up"

Joey began to stir and looked up and rubbed her eyes. "Wh...What time is it?" Joey slowly sat up and yawned.

"Just after 9" Aden sat down next to Joey. "We don't have work today, Gibbs said he tried calling you to let you know, but you didn't answer your phone."

"It must have gone flat; it hasn't been on charge in a few days."

"Did you sleep here last night?" Belle asked as she sat down in front of Aden.

"Yeah, I didn't mean to, I just fell asleep." Joey ran her fingers through her hair.

The three sat in an awkward silence for several minutes.

"I best get to work." Belle stood up and brushed the sand off of her. "Enjoy your day off you two!"

"Thanks." Joey smiled.

"Good luck today" Aden grabbed hold of Belle's hand a kissed it. "Love you"

"Love you too" Belle walked off.

"Have you thought about making that statement?" Aden asked once Belle was out of sight.

Joey clenched her eyes closed as she thought about what her brother did last night. "Nope. Nothing more to think about."

"Seriously?" Aden sighed. "Joey, Robbo needs to be punished for what he did to you."

"I told you yesterday Aden, just leave it alone!" Joey got up and stormed off.


	4. Chapter 4

**As always, thank you so much for the reviews! **

**They make me want to post/write more! woohoo! **

**-**

**Glad to hear that some of you like complications! yeyy! **

**-**

**Purplemonkeyys : Omg, I Laughed SO hard when I read**

**your review of the 2nd chapter "That's so cute with **

**Charlie and Paige! Still I hope she dies..." Hahaha! **

**Classic! **

**-**

**pmcc : Ooh! thank you, you've given me an idea! Cheers!! :D**

**-**

**Okay okay, keeping this ramble short, I've had 2 hours**

**sleep and I am exhausted! **

**-**

**Until tomorrow, when I post chapter 5, Enjoy chapter four =)**

**-**

**MissToastie **

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**Chapter Four :**

"Wow you look gorgeous Charlie!" Leah beamed as Charlie walked into the diner. She was wearing a black strapless mini dress that stopped shy of her knees, her hair was down and curled and she was wearing killer black heels, she looked simply stunning.

"Thank you. I thought I'd better sproose up a bit. One year anniversary hey, never thought Paige and I would make it this far when we first started seeing each other"

"She was a bit of a wild one, wasn't she?" Leah laughed.

"That's the understatement of the century!" Charlie laughed and looked at her watch.

"She's only two minutes late Charlie! Go sit down, I'll get you a drink."

"I'll have a white wine thanks Leah!" Charlie smiled, walked over and sat at the table that was reserved for her and Paige.

Twenty minutes had passed, Charlie was sat staring at her phone when she got a text message, She opened her phone and seen it was from Paige. Charlie sighed as she read the message.

"Was that from Paige?" Leah questioned as she walked over to Charlie, placing a bottle of wine on the table.

"She can't make it." Charlie opened the bottle of wine and poured herself a drink.

"Why? What did the message say?"

Charlie picked up her phone and read the message out loud. "Hey babes can't make it tonight, working over time. X"

"That's all?"

Charlie nodded.

"Seriously? Not even a sorry, or a happy anniversary or an "I love you"?"

Charlie laughed. "We've never told each other that we love each other."

"Do you love her?" Leah raised her eyebrow.

Charlie tensed, she didn't know how to answer the question, she was relieved when Colleen interrupted.

"Leah, I know that you and Senior Constable Buckton are good friends, but I am not going to be taking orders, taking the customers food to them AND the cooking!"

"Coming Colleen." Leah turned began to walk off. "We can finish this conversation later on" Leah turned on her heel and walked off into the kitchen.

"Great" Charlie mumbled under her breath. She looked up and saw Joey walk into the diner. She waited for Joey to look around, she wove as she caught Joey's eye.

"Hey Charlie." Joey said as she walked over to Charlie.

"Hey! How are you?"

"Great thanks and you?"

Charlie wasn't convinced that Joey was great. But she didn't want to push Joey in to talking to her.

"I've been better to be honest. I was supposed to be having a lovely one year anniversary meal with my girlfriend right now, but she has to work." Charlie sighed and looked up at Joey.

"Aw, that sucks. I bet she's gutted that she has to work"

"Ha, I doubt it. I don't think she cares that much" Charlie took a sip of her wine. "Do you want to join me for dinner?"

"Um, are you sure?"

"Of course I am. Here take a seat" Charlie pushed the chair out from under the table.

"Thank you" Joey sat down in the chair. "I suppose this will beat getting take away and eating alone!" Joey laughed. "Geez that sounded sad."

Charlie laughed.

"Are you two ready to order?" Colleen asked as she walked over to the table.

"Can I have the Chicken Parmigiana with steamed vegetables, thanks Colleen" Charlie folded her menu and handed it to Colleen.

"Ok. And you dear?" Colleen turned her body to face Joey. "Oh I don't believe we've met before, I'm Colleen Smart"

"I'm Joey" Joey smiled shyly. "Erm, I'll have the Beef Lasagne, thank you."

"I'll get them to you shortly! " Colleen smiled and waddled back into the kitchen.

"She seems nice"

"She's the town gossip, a head ache and a half!" Charlie laughed and poured herself some more wine. "Would you like a drink?"

"Um no thank you, I don't like alcohol" Joey shuffled in her seat.

"Ah, sorry." Charlie placed the wine bottle back on the table. "Would you like me to stop drinking?"

"No, its fine Charlie, I'm sure you can handle your alcohol" Joey smiled at Charlie, who returned the smile.

-

"So what are you up to now?" Charlie asked as she and Joey walked out of The Diner, it was almost 9pm, the two had ate their meals and talked about the little things they both enjoyed most in life; Joey explaining her fascination with boats and Charlie spoke about how much she loved to ski.

"Not really got anything to do" Joey spoke as they walked into the car park. "You?"

"I should probably go home and catch up on some sleep" Charlie replied as she walked in synch with Joey.

"Oh"

"But, if you wanted to go sit down at the park and chat for a while longer, I'd be up for that" Charlie smiled at Joey.

"Yeah, beats going home!" Joey grinned.

The pair walked to the park and sat down on the swings. Charlie started to swing whilst Joey sat still.

"So, I never asked you before, excuse me if I'm being rude in asking, I was just a bit curious" Joey rambled.

"It's almost Christmas" Charlie chuckled.

"Shut up!" Joey laughed and pulled Charlie's swing to a stop.

"Hey!" Charlies' jaw dropped and she started to laugh. "Continue on with the rambling then" Charlie started to swing again.

"Where did you and Paige meet?"

"She came here just over a year ago to visit Rachel, they went to medical school together, and yeah, we met and there was a lot of sexual tension" Charlie laughed and slowed down on the swing. "She decided to stay and one thing lead to another...and here we are a year later." Charlie slightly smiled.

"You don't seem so happy about that" Joey spun around in the swing so she could face Charlie side on.

Charlie sighed.

"When I first met her, I didn't think she was going to be sticking around for long; it was just a bit of fun." Charlie spun around in her swing so the two could face each other. "It's been great, but over the last few months, it's, I don't know..." Charlie frowned

"Like the spark has gone?" Joey suggested.

Charlie nodded.

"Have you spoken to Paige about this?" Joey asked.

Charlie shook her head 'no'.

"I don't know what to do. I like her, but that's all, there's no love, she's not the one I want to spend the rest of my life with, you know?"

"Yeah, I understand what you mean. I was sort of like that with my last girlfriend. The spark was there for a while, then it left and I decided I had to as well, I mean, it wasn't fair on the both of us if I stayed when my heart wasn't in it"

"Yeah. I wish I had the guts to do that" Charlie sighed. "How did you keep your relationship with this girl from your brother?"

"With great difficulty" Joey let out a small laugh. "When we weren't allowed around hers, I'd just claim I had a friend coming over, Brett had no idea." Joey smiled and looked at her watch "I suppose I should be heading home shortly, Brett will be wondering where I am, he hasn't seen me since yesterday since I slept on..." Joey trailed off, not wanting Charlie to know she had slept on the beach the night before.

"You slept where?" Charlie asked as she spun out of the twisted swing.

"Um, on the beach" Joey spoke softly.

"The beach? What, all night? You must have been freezing!"

"Wow, I was expecting a long lecture on how I can't sleep on the beach as it's against the law blah blah blah"

"Well, yes it is against the law" Charlie chuckled. "But I've been trying to get myself out of constant cop mode, so now I'm trying to be concerned friend" Charlie smiled at Joey.

"Well good luck with that" Joey smiled back at Charlie and stood up.

"May I ask why you slept on the beach?" Charlie stood up and followed Joey; they stopped at the entrance of the park.

Joey took a deep breath. "Robbo came around home"

"What? Joey did he hurt you again?" Charlie stepped forward and placed her hand on Joeys' arm.

"Is this concerned friend or are you back in cop mode again?" Joey raised her eyebrow. Charlie didn't reply. "He didn't hurt me, no. But I just couldn't handle being in the same house as him, so, I fled, came down to the beach as the water always calms me." Joey smiled. "And the next thing I know, I'm being woken by Aden and Belle"

"You shouldn't have to deal with him being there...You wouldn't have to if"

"I pressed charges?" Joey said cutting Charlie off. "Cop mode didn't keep away for long."

"I'm sorry. I just don't understand why you don't press charges" Charlie placed her hands over arms; it was beginning to get a little cold.

"So did you ever make a statement?" Joey asked after a few moments of silence.

"Eventually, yes."

"But not straight away?"

"No, Not straight away because I didn't tell anyone about it for a few months, Mum was 7 months pregnant with Ruby, I kept it all to myself and it ate away at me, I was a 12 year old girl who was terrified to even step out of my house without my mum or dad with me, it didn't do me any justice, the moment I told my mum, was the moment I felt myself taking back control of my life."

"You were lucky you had some family that supported you" Joey placed her hands in her pockets.

"You have people here to support you"

"Charlie, can you please just drop it, I don't want to press charges" Joey was starting to get annoyed.

"I'm sorry, it's just" Charlie began to speak.

"It's just nothing Charlie! It's my life and my decision to not press charges, it would be lovely if you could just accept that and take no for an answer" Joey turned to leave. "Thank you for the lovely evening"

"Do you want a lift home?" Charlie asked.

"I'll be fine thanks. I'll see you around" Joey walked off.

Charlie sighed and walked back to her car, she heard a vibrating noise coming from her handbag, she reached in and grabbed her phone.

"Hey Rubes" Charlie smiled in to the phone. "I'm just walking to the car and heading home now, why's that?" Charlie reached her car and unlocked the door, hopping in the vehicle.

"She had to work Ruby, she can't help that" Charlie placed her bag on the back seat. "I know I was looking forward to it, but life doesn't always go to plan." Charlie placed the keys in the ignition and turned the key; the car started. "I love you too Rubes. Have a good sleep and I'll see you in the morning" Charlie hung up the phone and placed it on the seat next to her and made her way home.


	5. Chapter 5

**So I was just in bed about to go to sleep as I'm dead tired, then I was like "Argh there is something I have to do" then **

**it hit me, I have to update my story on here! haha! Almost forgot! My bad! haha. **

**-**

**Super duper happy with the amazing reviews guys! I really**

**appreciate it =) It really honestly gives me such confidence**

**to write! **

**-**

**Travis : Yes she was =) But..... ;) **

**Pmcc : Very true! Joey wont have to pick up the pieces, **

**both Charlie and Paige really don't give a shit about**

**this relationship haha. Nah, I decided to go a different**

**route with this story and not have Ruby as Charlie's daughter**

**(as much as I can't wait for that storyline to air), I could**

**have, if Charlie's uncle didn't rape her...that'd make Ruby**

**a little..incest. So yeah, left that part out =)**

**Hahaha! Well...Paige had other things she had to 'do' *coughs***

**-**

** ; I'm not minding Paige...she's fun to write!**

**haha...but I don't like the matching of Paige and Charlie..**

**which is weird as I'm the one writing it...but everything**

**fits together in a few chapters time haha! **

**-**

**AuthorW : She was working...but.... ;) **

**-**

**Purplemonkeyys ; Haha, she's not dead, no. **

**-**

**Aaah, so paranoid, I keep thinking my 'rents are going to come in my room! haha! **

**I told them I was going to bed and that I would do the dishes in the morning because I'm too tired now! **

**Which I am, but yes, This story is more important than sleeping! **

**-**

**Okkkaaayyyy...So...before you read this next chapter..I just want to explain this before you all review/pm biting my head off! **

**What happens in this chapter...Don't give up hope =) You know I love Charlie and Joey together and They will get together, soon.**

**It NEEDED to happen for it to all come out in a few chapters time! You will see when I post those chapters why it needed to happen (If you're**

**all still reading that is :( haha)...and it is only a one off between the two of them, haha. **

**-**

**Argh I really need to stop rambling =| Not that I ever listen to myself saying that haha! **

**-**

**So this is the part where I go and hide and hope that everyone doesn't want to hunt me down with pitch forks. **

**-**

**It'll all get better in time.. *sings* Oh I must listen to that song before I go to sleep.**

**-**

**Enjoyy and let me know what you think. *hides* **

**-**

**If you still want chapter six...tell me Okay :P haha! **

**MissToastie**

**************************************************************************

**Chapter Five :**

Joey walked into her house; the smell of smoke and beer instantly flared her nostrils. She heard laughter coming from the lounge room.

"Great" Joey mumbled. She entered the lounge room and saw Brett, Robbo and 4 other guys sitting around drinking and watching a porn DVD.

"Joey! Where have you been love? You're missing out on some good TV" Robbo smirked at Joey.

"I'm going to bed" She mumbled as she walked passed the guys.

"Where've you been Jo?" Brett asked as he grabbed Joeys' arm as she walked passed.

"Out with a friend" Joey pulled her arm from her brothers grip.

"Since when do you have friends?" Brett laughed. The other guys joined in laughing too.

"Were you out with your boyfriend" Robbo yelled.

"Who's her boyfriend?" Brett asked him.

"I don't have a boyfriend" Joey yelled as she walked up stairs and in to her bedroom.

"Who's her boyfriend?" Brett asked Robbo again.

"Nah was just muckin' 'round mate" Robbo laughed as he leant in to grab a beer.

"I was gonna say, the guy must be terribly desperate to stoop as low as her" Brett laughed and grabbed a beer for himself.

---

Charlie arrived home a little past ten pm, she grabbed her belongings and was about to hop out of the car when another car pulled up beside hers. Charlie smiled and got out of the car.

"Hi how was work?" Charlie asked as she walked up to her girlfriend who was standing in front of her own car.

"It was very hectic! I still don't get how in such a small town, all this drama happens!" Paige laughed and placed her arm around Charlie's waist as they walked toward the front door.

"Yeah tell me about it, I think I've dealt with more cases here then I did in the City" Charlie said as she opened the door to enter the house.

The two stopped talking and quietly walked down the hallway and in to their bedroom.

"So how was your night?" Paige asked as she sat down on the bed and slipped her work shoes off.

"It was really good thanks" Charlie grinned, remembering the previous hours she and Joey had spent talking and getting to know each other.

"I'm pleased to hear that" Paige pulled Charlie closer to her. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there, I will make it up to you somehow" She placed her hands just above Charlie's knees and slowly started to run them up Charlie's thighs.

"Oh will you now?" Charlie grinned and placed her hands on Paige's shoulders.

"Oh I will" Paige replied "You look gorgeous in this dress" Paige stood up and walked behind her girlfriend and whispered in her ear. "But you'd look better out of it"

Charlie grinned and placed a soft kiss on Paige's lips. "Take it off then" Charlie said, grinning and raising an eyebrow.

"Don't mind if I do" Paige said as she began to unzip Charlie's dress, kissing her way down Charlie's back as she did.

"Mmmm" Charlie let out a small moan. Her dress was now on the floor and her girlfriend was kissing the small of her back as she ran her hands over Charlie's toned stomach.

"I think you should lie on the bed" Paige spoke with a low voice as she pulled her mouth away from her girls back.

Charlie turned around and sat on the bed, about to take her high heels off.

"No no" Paige stopped Charlie "Leave them on" She said with a big grin.

Charlie let out a small laugh and pulled Paige down on top of her and started kissing her passionately, their tongues lashed hungrily at each other. Charlie ran her hands down her girlfriends back and slid them under her shirt, longing for contact with her skin. Charlie rolled them over being careful not to let their mouths break apart as she did. She sat atop of Paige, straddling her, unbuttoning the work shirt that was keeping her away from being able to feel Paige's skin on hers; she successfully unbuttoned the shirt in what should have been a record time.

Paige leant up, supporting herself on her elbows so that Charlie could undo her bra, she lay back down as her girlfriend slid her bra off.

Charlie tore her mouth away from her girlfriends and looked at her perfectly shaped breasts, She grinned, it had been a long time since the two of them had made love like this, too long. She looked into her girlfriends eyes before leaning down and taking an erect nipple in her mouth; sucking and licking it, causing Paige to express her pleasure audibly. Charlies hand found its way to the other breast and she caressed it, groping it and capturing the nipple between her fingers. She pulled her mouth away from the breast she had been attending and kissed her way down her girlfriend's stomach, she moved herself to kneel on the floor; removing her hand from the other breast, she slid it down Paige's stomach and pulled her black pants off.

Paige once again expressed her pleasure audibly; she moaned as she felt Charlie placing kisses on the inside of her thigh, centimetres away from the area that needed to be touched. Paige could feel the heat rising inside of her; it had been ages since she had been this turned on by Charlie, the two not being able to spend much leisure time together due to work.

Charlie ran her hand over Paige's' underwear; instantly feeling the heat that was pouring out. She smiled and began to slide her girlfriend's underwear off; grateful when Paige arched her body so the lacy underwear could slide off easier. Charlie stood up and lay on her side as close as she could get to Paige; their lips met and their tongues danced around one-and-other. Charlie let her index finger trace down her girlfriends slender stomach, she stopped and rested her hand just below the bellybutton. Paige broke her mouth away from Charlies.

"You are being such a tease" Her voice was low and her eyes were full of lust. "I need to feel you inside of me, please Charlie" She breathed heavily against Charlie's face.

Charlie grinned and moved her head in to meet Paige's lips once again. Her hand slowly made its way down to the most heated part of her girlfriend's body.

Paige's' body jerked upwards as she felt her girlfriends two fingers find her delicate spot; she let out a small moan.

Charlie slid two of her fingers inside her girlfriend; which instantly became wet, she pulled her mouth away from Paige's' as she watched the pleasure take over her girls face.

Paige moaned loudly as the pace of Charlie's fingers inside of her became quicker; she moved her hips in rhythm with her girlfriend's actions.

Charlie's fingers were caught in the tightness inside of her girlfriend; she slowed her actions down, teasing her girl.

"No, no, faster, please go faster" Paige groaned as she felt her girlfriend teasing her, she was nearing release and this wasn't the best time for Charlie to be teasing her.

Charlie did as Paige wanted; she intensified the movements of her fingers; moving at the same speed of Paige's hips.

Paige arched her back and moaned loudly, reaching her arms out in search of something to grasp as the approaching orgasm neared, she arched her back even higher and caught her breath as the sensations ran through her body.

"Breathe, baby, breathe" Charlie spoke softly as her girlfriend was coming down from her high.

Paige felt her body relax; she was out of breath and utterly exhausted. "Fuck" she breathed out.

Charlie grinned; happy that she had satisfied her girlfriend; she rolled over, lying on her back and stared up at the ceiling.

"Your turn" Paige announced as she propped herself up with her elbows.

Charlie's grin disappeared as the sound of her mobile phone ringing echoed around the room.

"Don't answer it baby" Paige pleaded as Charlie got out of bed and walked over to her bag, in search of her phone.

"It might be important" Charlie replied. "Why else would someone be phoning this late at night?"

Paige sighed and lay back on the bed.

"Hello, Charlie Buckton speaking" Charlie spoke in to the phone. "Joey? Joey calm down..." Charlie placed her hand on her forehead. "Joey I can't understand you." Charlie's heart began to race. "I don't know what you're saying Joey, calm down and tell me where you are" Charlie walked over to her drawers and grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt out. "Phone booth on the corner of James Avenue and Hurst Street?...Okay wait for me there, I will be there in a moment" Charlie hung up the phone.

"Who is Joey?" Paige asked.

"She's a friend of mine, She needs me" Charlie replied as she slipped her jeans on.

"I've never heard you speak of a Joey before" Paige sat up on the bed, watching as her girlfriend quickly placed a shirt over her head.

"I met her the other day" Charlie kicked her high heels off and slipped in to a pair of sneakers.

"You met her the other day and she is calling you at midnight? That's a bit strange to need someone you barely even know" Paige pulled a shirt over her head.

"I told her she could phone me anytime she needed to" Charlie snapped at Paige.

"Okay Charlie, no need to get snappy" Paige put her hands up in defence.

"Well there's no need to be so nosy" Charlie said as she walked out the bedroom door.

Paige shook her head, turned the lights off and got under the covers of the bed.

-

Joey walked over and sat on the bench near the phone booth, waiting for Charlie to arrive, she held her knees up to her face; she couldn't stop the tears from escaping her eyes.


	6. Chapter 6

***comes back from hiding***

**-**

**WOW. Aww you're all like really amazing for not biting my**

**head off! =O **

**-**

**Closure knowing that CJ get together? haha! **

**-**

**Thank you all for the fantastic and positive reviews! **

**-**

**I should get writing and finish chapter 7 so I can post**

**it tomorrow! **

**-**

**I realised today, that I don't have any idea of what**

**I want to happen in this story =| Apart from the obvious, **

**haha. **

**-**

**Anyone got any suggestions you'd like to see happen**

**in a few chapters time? **

**-**

**Let me know if you do! **

**-**

**Anyway, here's chapter six! Enjoy :D **

**-**

**MissToastie**

**********************************************************************************

**Chapter Six :**

**An hour earlier...**

Joey sat in bed staring at the ceiling, it was just after Eleven pm, she was tired but with the music blasting from down stairs was preventing her to fall into slumber. She turned on her side and faced the window, looking out at the moon, a smile grew on her face as she remembered all the things that had happened over the past few hours, she and Charlie had, to Joey's surprise, gotten on like a house on fire, they had sat talking for hours at The Diner, simply getting to know each other. They shared pleasant stories about the things in their lives they loved the most, Joey admired how much love and care Charlie expressed for her younger sister, it was nice to hear that siblings could be that close. Hearing why Charlie had decided to join the Police Force had been inspiring to Joey, she was amazed by how brave and heroic Charlie had been to overcome her past and make a career out of helping people who had suffered in the way she had suffered. A smile had slowly developed on Joey's face as she recalled Charlie telling her about a family ski trip when she was 16 and how she was trying to show off her skiing skills to impress a young attractive girl who had been staying in the cabin next to hers, but only to fail when she went over a jump, lost control of landing, and dislocated her shoulder. Joey would have felt bad for laughing if Charlie hadn't been almost choking from laughter herself.

Joey was pulled from her happy thoughts when she heard a loud thud down stairs, the music had stopped, she heard the front door slam and for a second thought that everyone had decided to go home, until she heard loud awful singing coming from what sounded like 3 drunken men. She pulled her blankets over her head and went back to her happy place.

She thought about how lovely and genuinely interested Charlie had been when she spoke about her love for boats; most of the time when she had told people that she was fascinated with boats, they'd give her a weird look and not understand why she did have such love for them, but not Charlie, she asked her where her love for boats had began and what sort of boat were her favourite, even though she had no idea about boats except for the fact they could float on water. Joey laughed when she thought back to when Charlie had said that in The Diner - it was still as funny now as it was then. Joey spoke proudly of her plans for the future - to buy a really big boat and sail around Australia for a few months, Charlie loved the idea and wished she could take several months off work and sail around Australia, Joey promised that when she got the boat, she would take Charlie out on the open water for a few days.

Joey was yet again pulled from her happy place, but this time it was from the sound of her door creaking open. Joey sat up.

"What are you doing in here?" She demanded to know.

"Oh relax Joey, I've just come to check on you" Robbo grinned and flopped down on Joey's bed. "Saw you talking to that lady cop the other day, you both looked nice and cosy down at the beach" He smirked.

"You saw us?" Joey swallowed, her mouth had become dry.

"Yep... What'd you tell her Jo?" Robbo asked, raising his voice.

"Nothing, I told her nothing." Joey placed her pillow on her lap.

"Bullshit." Robbo paused. "You know she's one of you, don't you?"

Joey looked up and stared at Robbo "One of me?"

"Yeah, a Lezzy" Robbo smirked "You'd make a damn fine couple, if she wasn't too far out of your league" He laughed.

"Can you get out of my room please Robbo" Joey said as she gritted her teeth together.

"Nar, I quiet like where this conversation could end up" He said as me made himself comfortable. "So I take it Brett doesn't know he has a lesbian for a sister?"

Joey didn't respond.

"Don't think he'd take it too well. You remember how he reacted when he found out Rebecca Cummings was a dyke, yeah?" Robbo asked.

Once again Joey didn't respond, but she remembered very well how Brett had reacted when he found out Rebecca was gay, he had had a crush on her for years and was devastated, to say the least, when he saw her kissing a girl behind the school canteen one lunch time. That day he had came home from school in one of the worst moods Joey had ever seen him in; he grabbed a beer out of the fridge and trashed his bedroom, breaking anything and everything in his sight.

"You're not very talkative tonight Jo, what's with that?" He pretended to pout.

Yet again, Joey remained quiet.

"Oh for fuck sake woman" Robbo sat up and pulled Joey's blankets back. "I'll make you talk to me in a minute" he said as he grabbed hold of her legs and pulled them apart.

"Get off me" Joey yelled.

"Not a chance" Robbo replied as he tried to stop Joey from moving, but failing as Joey kicked him between the legs.

Joey got up and ran out of her bedroom, down stairs, past the passed out men laying on her lounge room floor and out the front door. She was crying and shaking, she continued running until her legs could no longer run. She placed her hoodie over her head and continued walking down the dark street, it was silent and empty and it scared Joey a little,

She put her hands in her jacket pocket and pulled out a piece of paper that she had found. She waited until she got to a street light and looked at the piece of paper; it was a phone number with the name 'Charlie Buckton' underneath it. Joey looked around and noticed a phone booth on the corner of the street, she ran over toward it, once reaching it, she put her hands in all of her pockets, she sighed in relief when she found a dollar coin in the back of jeans. Placing the money in the slot, she dialled Charlies' number.

"Charlie its Joey, I need your help, Robbo was there and he tried to do it again and I've got no where else to go" Joey spoke quickly as she sobbed in to the phone. "I came home and they were all sat in the lounge room, they had been drinking, and then after a while Robbo came up to my room, he knows that I'm gay" she cried and listened to Charlie on the other end of the phone, She looked around and saw the two street signs, she took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. "I'm at the phone booth on the corner of James Avenue and Hurst Street" She managed to get out. "Thank you so much Charlie" She placed the phone back on the hook. Walking out of the booth, she noticed a bench near the road.

Joey walked over and sat on the bench near the phone booth, waiting for Charlie to arrive, she held her knees up to her face; she couldn't stop the tears from escaping her eyes.

--

Charlie could feel her heart racing in her chest, she was worried for Joey, she could barely understand what the younger girl had said on the phone, but she was almost certain that she had heard Robbo's named mentioned. She turned the corner once she reached Hurst Street and drove along until she got to the corner of James Avenue, she noticed a figure seated on the bench, she pulled her car over and quickly got out, heading over toward the bench.

--

Joey looked up as she heard foot steps approaching.

"I'm sorry to have called you so late" She sobbed as Charlie sat on the bench next to her.

"Its fine Joey, I told you that you could call me whenever you needed to" Charlie placed her arms around Joey. "What happened?"

Joey took a deep breath. "I arrived home to find Brett, Robbo and their mates sitting around drinking and watching porn, I went to bed and tried to sleep, but they had decided to switch a porn DVD for a metal CD, I couldn't sleep with loud music screeching" She wiped her face. "I was lying in my bed when Robbo came in the room; He sat on the bed and said he saw us down at the beach, talking." She paused and looked up at Charlie who brushed a strand of Joey's hair behind her ear. Joey took a breath and continued "He said that you were like me, a lesbian and then he went on to say how Brett wouldn't take the news too well after everything that happened with Rebecca, I didn't reply to him and he got angry and pulled my legs apart" She cried.

"Oh, Joey" Charlie bit her lip "Did he?"

Joey shook her head, Charlie breathed out with relief.

"I kicked him off and ran out of the house" Joey slightly smiled at Charlie "I found your card in my pocket"

"I know I've said this before" Charlie began.

"I need to make a statement" Joey finished Charlie's sentence for her and nodded.

"Yes, you really need to Joey; you need to get Robbo behind bars, because next time you might not be so lucky to be able to fight him off"

Fresh tears formed in Joeys' eyes. "I know"

Charlie tightened her hold on Joey.

"I don't want to do it tonight though and I will only talk to you"

"That's fine, we can go down to the station tomorrow and I can be the officer who takes your statement" Charlie removed her arms from around Joey and placed her hand on Joeys back.

"Thank you, Charlie" Joey stood up and turned to face Charlie. "I don't suppose I could be a pain and ask you for a lift to the nearest motel?"

"You're not staying by yourself in a motel Joey" Charlie joined Joey and stood up.

"I've got no where else to go Charlie, I've not really got that many close friends here, none that I've seen in a while" Joey paused to think "I could always give Kasey a call and see if I could stay there for a few days"

"Or you could come stay with me?"

"Charlie, I couldn't possibly do that, you've already done plenty for me" Joey shook her head.

"Please Joey, I would sleep better knowing you are under the same roof, knowing that you're safe" Charlie placed her hands on Joey's shoulders. "Please?"

"Okay" Joey nodded and the two turned to walk to Charlie's car. "Thank you, once again Charlie" Joey managed a smile.

"It's fine, you really don't have to apologise" Charlie smiled back at Joey, and turned the car on.

"I've got a feeling I'll be thanking you a lot more in the next few days" Joey said, looking out the window as they drove back to Charlie's place.


	7. Chapter 7

**As always, thank you SO much for reading and reviewing! **

**I love hearing what you think of what's going on in the story**

**and what you want to happen! **

**-**

**Sorry I am posting this a little bit later than I usually do**

**(about 6 hours late! haha) but I fell to sleep! **

**-**

**I've still not got any idea where this story will go...**

***shrugs* I'll just go with the flow and if you don't like it,**

**let me know and I'll do something about it! **

**-**

**Enjoy chapter Seven! :D **

**MissToastie**

************************************************************************

**Chapter Seven :**

Charlie and Joey pulled up out the front of Charlie's, they walked inside the dark quiet house, being careful not to wake Paige or Ruby as they did. Reaching the kitchen, Charlie placed her keys on the hook near the door and turned around and smiled at Joey, who was standing next to the door frame.

"You have a lovely home" Joey smiled.

"Thanks, it goes alright although we are in serious need to paint in here and the bathroom" Charlie walked over and switched the kettle on. "Coffee?"

"No thanks"

"Water, Orange juice? I think Ruby has some Ribena in the fridge"

"Oh, I will have an OJ thank you" Joey smiled.

Charlie walked over to the fridge and grabbed the orange juice out and poured the younger girl a drink. "Here you go" She handed the glass to Joey. "You can have a seat if you'd like"

"Cheers" Joey sat down at the table.

"No worries" Charlie joined Joey at the table. "The bed is all set up in the spare bedroom, I changed the sheets 2 weeks ago after Paige's little sister came to visit"

"Thank you" Joey smiled. "How old is Paige's sister?"

"She's 19 and a right handful, I was glad to see the back of her" Charlie laughed and blew on her coffee.

"And how old is Paige?"

"She's 26" Charlie replied before she took a sip of her coffee. "And I'm the oldy, I'm 28"

"28's not old" Joey smiled "And you don't look 28"

"I feel it some days!" Charlie joked. "If I remember correctly, you're 20, soon to be 21?"

"That'd be correct. Although I feel older than 20" Joey smiled and looked up as she saw someone walking in to the kitchen.

"What are you doing up so late Charlz, do you not have work tomorrow?" Ruby asked as she rubbed her eyes.

"Yes mum, I do have work tomorrow" Charlie rolled her eyes at her little sister.

"Ha ha" Ruby rolled her eyes back and noticed Joey sat on the chair. "Hi, I'm Ruby" Ruby smiled and placed her hand out.

"Hi Ruby, I've heard so much about you, I'm Joey" Joey shook the hand that was placed in front of her.

"All good I hope" Ruby said as she turned around and grabbed a jug of water out the fridge.

"Most of it" Joey smiled.

"Goodo!" Ruby joined the two at the table with a glass of water. "So you and Paigey obviously made up, I heard some things that I could have gone without hearing, you obviously did her good Charlz!" Ruby grinned.

Joey placed her hand over her mouth to suppress the laughter from the shock look on Charlie's face.

"RUBY!" Charlie screeched. "Go back to bed before I drag you there myself!"

"Oookay! Cool it Charlz, I'm off" Ruby stood up. "It was nice to meet you Joey"

"Yeah, you too Ruby" Joey smiled and waved to the young girl as she exited the bedroom. "So I know what you were up to earlier" Joey winked.

"Oh, I am going to kill her!" Charlie burried her head in her hands as Joey sat giggling.

---

Paige woke to Charlie's alarm ringing in her ear, she stretched her arm over and switched it off. Yawning, she turned around and nuzzled in to Charlie's neck.

"Wake up sleepy head" She mumbled.

"Mmm" Charlie groaned "Too early"

"What time did you come to bed last night?"

"Joey and I finally went to bed around 3.30"

"Joey? She stayed here?" Paige asked as she sat up.

Charlie turned over and lay on her back. "Yeah, she's probably going to be staying here for a while, she's going through a rough time at home"

"You only just met her Charlie. I don't like the fact that she will be staying in our house" Paige hopped out of bed and put her dressing gown on. "She's a stranger!"

"My gut feeling says she is a great person" Charlie stood up and got out of bed. "Life at home isn't easy for her"

"What so that means you can just invite her here to stay?" Paige folded her arms. "We don't run a shelter Charlie"

"She's going through a rough time at the moment Paige, she needs somewhere to stay!" Charlie raised her voice.

"Well take her to a motel or find somewhere else for her to stay!" Paige raised her voice back to Charlie.

"How can you be so damn heartless?" Charlie questioned.

"Well tell me about her then, what could be so bad in her life that she has to live with us?" Paige was still raising her voice.

"It's none of your damn business Paige!" Charlie fumed

"I think you'll find it IS my business! She stayed at our house last night, you didn't tell me.." Paige was cut off by Charlie.

"Sorry was I supposed to wake you up and go "Oh, Hey Paige, yeah sorry to wake you, I know you've got work today, but my friend Joey, yeah she's staying here tonight, go back to sleep now, sorry to disturb you!"" Charlie spoke sarcastically.

"Don't be a smart arse Charlie." Paige yelled.

"Well don't be so dramatic Paige! Joey needs somewhere to stay! She needs my help and I'll be damned if I let you or anyone else stop me from helping her" Charlie yelled as she walked out and slammed their bedroom door shut.

---

"Hey" Joey said softly as she stood at a table in The Diner, she had barely slept when she finally went to bed, waking up at 7 am, she decided to get up and go for a morning run along the beach, she would have kept running if her stomach hadn't been demanding food, so she made her way to The Diner.

"Hey" Aden looked up smiling warmly at Joey. "How are you?"

"Yeah, I'm okay thanks. Do you mind if I join you?"

"Of course not, providing you don't bite my head off again" He half joked as he pushed the chair out for Joey.

"Yeah" Joey sat down. "I'm sorry about that, I just had a lot on my plate"

"It's fine, I know what you mean" Aden nodded and finished the last of his pan cakes.

"You do?" Joey raised an eyebrow at Aden.

"Yeah" Aden paused "Maybe we could go speak somewhere? In private?"

"Um, yeah sure!" Joey stood up as Aden did. "Do you mind if I get some food first? I'm starved!"

"Nah you can starve" He laughed and nudged Joey toward the counter so she could order breakfast.

---

It was almost 8am, Paige was sat at the table in the kitchen eating some breakfast, she was thankful she didn't have to be at work until 10:30. She looked up from her food as Ruby entered the kitchen.

"Good morning Rubes, How'd you sleep?" Paige asked as the young girl walked over and placed bread in the toaster.

"Not too bad once I got back to sleep! Seriously Paigey, I had to put up with you screaming, then you two stopped, I finally got to sleep, then I wake to get a drink, try to go back to sleep and all I can hear is Charlie and Joey giggling in the lounge room!" Ruby grabbed a plate from the cupboard.

"Oh" Paige bit the inside of her mouth. "They were giggling? What time was this?"

"Err, about 2?" Ruby popped her toast and placed it on the plate. "They were so loud! I'm surprised they didn't wake you up!"

"Um, no, I was pretty beat, I don't think a tornado would have woke me up last night" Paige took a mouthful of her coffee.

"Well if a tornado wouldn't have woken you, then Charlie and Joey definitely wouldn't have woken you up" Ruby spun around and sat at the table as Charlie entered the room. "Seriously sis, you guys were so loud last night! What time did you get to bed?" Ruby grinned.

"Around 3:30" Charlie smiled and grabbed a piece of Ruby's toast. "Sorry Rubes, I'm in a rush!" She said as she kissed her little sister on her forehead "I'll see you after work tonight"

"That's fine, I'll just cook some more!" Ruby pouted and stood up to cook more bread.

"See you later Charlie" Paige smiled.

"Bye" Charlie smiled back and ran out the door.

"You two aren't fighting are you?" Ruby asked once Charlie was out of sight.

"What's it to you?" Paige looked up at the young Buckton.

"Oh, err, nothing, just both of your goodbyes felt half arsed, that's all"

"Well what do you expect Ruby" Paige stood up "For us to be sickly romantic toward each other every damn time one of us leave for work?!" Paige raised her voice.

"I...I'm sorry" Ruby turned around, shocked that Paige had yelled at her.

"Mind your own business Ruby, the relationship is between Charlie and I, so it should not concern you how we do and don't say our goodbyes" Paige said before she stormed off up stairs.

Ruby stood shocked and confused at Paige's outburst. She shook her head and returned to getting her breakfast.


	8. Chapter 8

**So, I'm pretty sure that none of us like the way Paige spoke to Ruby, haha. **

**I hated writing it haha, even though it wasn't anything major, I just have**

**a massive soft spot for Ruby - in any story! haha.**

**--**

**Thank you all for taking the time to read and review the story! I try and write a chapter a day to post up! I'm doing**

**pretty well so far! (Although I did have a few chapters written before hand! haha)**

**--**

**Was so devastated today, I was finishing the end of this chapter, and I accidently erased half of it (hard to explain really, had**

**the last half in a different word pad, thought I had copied it, turns out I still had stuff from earlier copied and pasted that..**

**and deleted all the stuff I had written!) And I was so gutted!**

**But turns out it might have been a good thing! :D **

**-**

**pmcc - Haha! Sorry for spoiling your fun! :P Thank you for your idea! =D I might take that under**

**serious consideration! :D **

**-**

**Broken87 - I don't have a sister, but I'm pretty sure if I did and my girl spoke to her like Paige spoke to Ruby, I'd be rid of her pretty quickly.**

**I mean, there is a 10 year age gap! **

**-**

**Kgirl36 - Thank you for your lovely words :D **

**-**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Sorry for the switching backwards and forwards of the characters haha. **

**-**

**MissToastie**

*********************************************************************

**Chapter Eight :**

Joey and Aden walked a long the side of the road and entered the park.

"Over there looks nice and green" Joey said as she pointed to a spot on the grass. Aden nodded in agreement and the two walked over and sat down.

"So..." Joey looked down and picked at some grass. "What'd you want to talk about?"

Aden looked around the park, smiling when he saw two little kids chasing one and other around the play ground.

"Ade?"

"I..." He laughed nervously. "I never...know where to begin" He joined Joey in picking at the grass.

Joey nodded and studied Aden for a moment. "Take your time"

---

"Ruby!" Nicole yelled out to her friend.

Ruby turned around and stopped, waiting for her Nicole to catch up to her.

"Hey Rubyroo!" Nicole said as she reached the youngest Buckton and hugged her.

"Hey Nic" Ruby turned and began walking to school.

"Err, are you okay?" Nicole asked as she too began to walk to school.

"Hmm?" Ruby looked at Nicole "Oh, yeah, well no." Ruby paused "Paige yelled at me this morning"

"What? Why?"

"I don't know, she said something about me minding my own business and that it's hers and Charlie's relationship, not mine." Ruby and Nicole walked in to the school building. "All I did was ask her if she and Charlz were fighting"

"Wow, that was uncalled for" Nicole draped her arm over Ruby's shoulder. "Are you going to tell Charlie?"

"No, I couldn't do that. I don't want to cause trouble between the two of them and besides, Paige was probably just having an off morning"

"What, like she was last month?" Nicole asked, raising her eyebrow.

Ruby looked at Nicole and remembered when she and Nic had spent the day watching movies, eating and doing each others hair, the house had gotten a little messy, cushions were spread all around the lounge room, the kitchen full of dishes and hair products everywhere. Paige had come home from work and skitzed at the girls, telling them they needed to respect other people and other people's property. The young teenagers had never heard or seen Paige so angry; they quickly stopped what they were doing and tidied the house.

"You need to tell Charlie. She will understand, she loves you more than anyone else in this world Ruby" Nicole hugged her friend as the school bell rang; the two went their different ways before they got told off for being late to class and put on detention.

---

"My grandfather...sexually abused me when I was growing up" Aden suddenly said.

Joey stopped playing with the grass and stared at him, taking in what he said.

"He used to come in to my bedroom at night" Aden swallowed. "The first time it happened, I didn't have a clue what he was doing...but as I got older I knew what he was doing was wrong"

"Oh...Ade" Joey croaked out, she had tears forming in her eyes. She hadn't expected to hear this from Aden.

"My father refused to believe it was happening, he continued on like we were just the 'normal everyday family'. It ate away at me for years, I was very angry and it came out, I bullied people, I caused trouble for everyone, I was a mess" Aden looked up at Joey with tears in his eyes. "I hated my grandfather, I hated my father and most of all I hated myself for not telling anyone about it, so I took all that hate, all that anger and I punished everyone else. I didn't let anyone in and one day I finally snapped, I took my dad hostage and I almost killed him, if it wasn't for my girlfriend Belle, who knows' what I would have done" Aden wiped a few tears away.

Joey stood up and sat next to Aden, too stunned to say anything, she put her arms around him, holding him close.

---

Charlie was sat at work putting the final notes to a case that was just about closed.

"Senior?" Watson knocked on the door as she entered the room. "Sorry to disturb you but I need you to sign these" Watson placed several pieces of paper in front of Charlie.

"No worries" Charlie smiled and started signing the papers. "Can you make sure that one of the interview rooms are free after lunch please"

"Yeah sure" Watson replied. "May I ask why?"

"Joey Collins is coming in to make a statement" Charlie turned to the last page she had to sign.

"Joey Collins? As in the rape victim of Robert Cruise?"

"Yes" Charlie finished signing the papers and handed them to Watson.

"How did you manage to get her to come forward?"

"I spoke to her last night and she agreed that it was the best thing to do" Charlie smiled.

"Nice job" Watson turned around to leave Charlie's office.

"Hey Watson, are you still with your girlfriend?" Charlie asked.

"Err, probably not the same girlfriend you're talking about" Watson turned around.

"Oh, what happened between you and Em..ily?" Charlie asked, hoping it was Emily and not Emma.

"Emily and I broke up, she wanted to move to the City and I like being a small town cop, so she left."

"Right, fair enough." Charlie nodded. "So who's your current girlfriend?"

"Oh, I, err, wouldn't call her my girlfriend, she's, a um" Watson was trying to think of the correct word.

"Friend with benefits?" Charlie suggested.

"Yeah, something like that" Watson smiled. "Anything else?"

"Nope that's all" Charlie gave Watson a weird look as she walked out the door. She sighed and returned to her paperwork, deciding she would give up trying to be friends with Watson, it never got her anywhere.

---

"You need to make a statement Joey, you need to charge Robbo, he can't get away with doing this to you, it's not right" Aden said after the two had sat in silence for several minutes.

"I know" Joey nodded. "Thank you for telling me, Aden, I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that." She tightened her hold on him. "You've come out the other end an amazing guy"

"Just promise me you will make the statement" Aden lifted his head and looked at Joey.

"I promise" Joey smiled.

"Would you like to borrow my car?" Aden asked as she stood up and offered his hand out for Joey to grab.

"That would be great thanks Aden" Joey said as she reached for Aden's' hand. "Thanks" she said as he pulled her up.

Aden gave Joey his keys, the two hugged and went their separate ways, Aden headed back to work and Joey drove to the station.

---

"So that's that then?" Joey asked as she slid the now signed statement across the table to Charlie.

"That's that" Charlie smiled and put Joey's statement in a folder. "I'll get someone to deliver the AVO to Robbo, he won't come near you"

Joey sighed.

"An AVO won't stop Robbo"

"Maybe not, but the AVO states that he isn't allowed within 100 metres of your workplace, your home and isn't allowed to confront you anywhere. He can't even phone you." Charlie stood up, walked around and sat on the corner of the table near Joey. "If he even tries to come near you Joey, we will arrest him straight away." She smiled and placed her hands on Joey's arm. "I promise I will look after you"

Joey nodded. "Thanks, Charlie. Really, you're amazing" She smiled.

"So what are you up to for the rest of the day?"

"House hunting, I need to find somewhere to stay" Joey said as she stood up out of the chair.

"Oh" Charlie softly spoke and lowered her head.

"Oh?"

"I would prefer you to stay at mine, this way we can get to know each other" Charlie slightly paused "And I can keep you safe"

"Oh Charlie, I really couldn't do that, I don't want to put you out. And it's Paige and Ruby's house as well; they may not want me there"

"Well, I own the house and what I say goes" Charlie let out a small laugh. "They'll be fine with it and if they're not, they'll have me to deal with" Charlie smiled.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. You're staying whether you or anyone else likes it or not and that's final!" Charlie got up and stood in front of Joey. "I feel we...have this connection...I don't want to lose you...your friendship"

Joey smiled and felt butterflies in her stomach. "Okay, that's that then"

"Good! Otherwise I would have had to have kidnapped you and held you hostage" Charlie joked as the two walked out of the interview room. "I won't be home 'til around 6 and Paige has a double shift at the hospital, so she won't be home until the morning, but Ruby will be home after school, so she can keep you company"

"And what do you do for dinner?" Joey asked as she reached the entrance of the station.

"We, usually get take away from The Diner, none of us really know how to cook" Charlie looked down with embarrassment.

"I can cook if you'd like?"

"Err, sure! If you're up to it, that'd be lovely!" Charlie grinned.

"I'll go grocery shopping and get some ingredients then and I'll see you when you get home" Joey smiled and left the station, reaching Aden's car, she pulled out her phone and began to send a text message.

---

Paige was sat behind the desk at the Hospital, going through one of her patients files when she felt her mobile vibrating in her pocket. She grabbed her phone out and read the new message she had just received.

_'Hey you Just heard you had double shift tonight, brilliant. What time should I come in? I'm dying to see you properly. I miss you. Your girl xx'_


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay, firstly, I'm sorry for the late update of this! **

**Secondly, this chapter is rather dark (Warning!). I didn't know that the story was going to go this way**

**until I started writing it today. **

**But it's opened up a bit more of an interesting way to write CJ getting together. **

**-**

**Haha, I didn't fool any of you with the text at the end did I? **

**Thank you all SO much for the reviews! I had a very huge grin on my face when I realised I had gotten a load of reviews! **

**I love reading them all! Thank you to the loyal peoples who have commented on the story from the first chapter! **

**and to the new people just commenting, thank you! :D **

**-**

**To clear things up :**

**Ruby and Nicole aren't an item. Just good friends =)**

**They'd make a pretty hot couple...if I didn't like Ruby and Xavier together, then I'd attempt a fanfic with Ruby and Nicole dating haha.**

**-**

**PLEASE let me know how you feel about me writing this chapter this way...I felt a bit weird writing it, I deno,**

**I felt the way I've written this chapter is a bit...'off' of how I usually write. **

**Anyway, let me know hey =/.**

**Enjoy =)**

**MissToastie.**

**************************************************************************************

**Chapter Nine :**

"So have you decided whether or not you're going to tell Charlie?" Nicole asked as she and Ruby made their way home from school.

"Maybe, I'll see if the right time presents its self." Ruby said as she pulled her ringing phone out of her school bag. "Hello? Oh hey Charlz!" Ruby grinned. "Yeah that's fine! It'll be nice to have a home cooked meal for a change, not that there is anything wrong with Roman or Leah's cooking!" She paused to listen to her sister "So it's just going to be the three of us?" Ruby turned her head and looked at Nicole. "Hey Charlz, can Nic come for dinner?" Ruby smiled at Nicole. "Fantastic! Okay, see you when you get home! Love you too" Ruby flipped her phone and placed it back in her bag.

"So, I take it dinner at yours tonight?"

"Yeah, if you want to come that is" Ruby smiled.

"Yeah, sure, just don't expect me to be able to bite my tongue around Paige" Nicole said as she stopped out the front of The Diner.

"Paige won't be there"

"Well who's the fourth person? You said "just the three of us" and then invited me?" Nicole asked with a confused look on her face.

"Joey, she's staying at ours for a while"

"As in the girl who worked with Aden on the boat?" Nicole watched as Ruby nodded "Why is she staying at yours?"

"I don't really know the full details, just something about her life at home being complicated"

"Right. Well, I'm going to go and annoy dad for some money, what time do you want me around?" Nicole asked her younger friend.

"Charlz doesn't usually get home 'til 6, so you can come at 5?"

"Okay, sounds like a plan!" Nicole hugged her friend and walked in to The Diner.

---

"Watson, if you're not busy can you come with me to give Robert Cruise his AVO." Charlie asked as she walked out from her office.

"Yeah, sure no worries." Watson said as she looked at her mobile phone.

Charlie walked toward the door and looked back at Watson. "Today?" Charlie said as she walked out the door.

"Ah, yeah sorry boss" Watson placed her mobile in her pocket and ran to follow Charlie.

"You driving or me?" Charlie asked.

"Um" Watson was about to reply but stopped as she felt her mobile vibrating, she grabbed her phone out and threw the keys to Charlie. "You drive"

Charlie and Watson both hopped in the car, Watson opened the message she had received and smiled. _"Hey Ur self gorgeous! C u around 10:30. 30 min break tonight. I'd suggest u bring handcuffs, but seems as though we will be my work, it's not a good idea. hehe. Can't wait 2 c u. Miss u 2. xxx" _

Charlie started the car and drove out of the station, looking at Watson as she did.

"Lovey dovey text message from the friend with benefits?" Charlie grinned.

"Yeah, something like that Charlie" Watson looked at Charlie and smiled.

---

Ruby began to walk home when she saw Xavier walking up from the beach, toward her.

"Xaves!" Ruby screamed and ran up to her boyfriend and hugged. "When did you get back?! I've missed you!"

"Around lunch time, I've missed you too" Xavier said as he hugged his girlfriend.

"How's your mum and Brendan?" Ruby asked as the two walked along holding hands.

"Yeah, they're good, Mum was relieved to have Hugo and I there for a few days, Bandicoot was becoming a bit of a handful, she needed a few days to relax and not chase after him 24/7"

"It must be hard on her, she's lucky to have an amazing son like you" Ruby leaned up and kissed her boyfriend on his lips. "Hold one second!"

"Okay" Xavier watched as Ruby searched around in her school bag.

"Found it!" Ruby grinned as she pulled out her mobile, she started dialling a number. "Hey Charlz, do you mind if Xaves comes to dinner tonight?" Ruby grinned. "Thank you so much!" Ruby nodded "You might want to phone Joey and let her know we have two extra people coming for dinner" Ruby paused and listened to her sister. "Okay sounds good! Bye Charlz" Ruby flipped her phone and held it in her hand.

"So, I guess I'm coming to yours for dinner tonight?" Xavier laughed and took Ruby's hand in his.

"Yes! I have a thing with just inviting people to dinner, not asking if they want to come." Ruby smiled.

"So who's going to be at this dinner?" Xavier asked as they reached the front of Charlie's house.

"Charlie, Joey, Nicole, You and Me" Ruby spoke as she put her arms around Xavier.

"Who's Joey?"

"She used to work with Aden on a trawler; she's staying with us for a few days" Ruby smiled and kissed her boyfriend on the lips. "Look, I better go, Joey might need a hand, I'll see you around 5:30?"

"See you then"

---

"Do you want me to come in with you?" Aden asked Joey as they sat in his car outside Joey's house.

"Umm" Joey thought for a minute. "No, I'll be fine thank you" Joey smiled and hopped out of the car.

"Good luck" Aden called out as Joey walked up to her front door.

Joey was about to enter her house when she turned around and walked back to the car. "I've changed my mind; can you please come in with me? I think I might need you"

"Of course" Aden smiled and got out of his car. "You're going to tell him, aren't you?" Aden asked as he put his arm around Joey, she nodded.

---

"Mr Cruise" Charlie yelled as she banged on his front door.

"Charlie, I don't think he's home" Watson said as she returned from the back of his house.

"Where is he damn it" Charlie mumbled under her breath. She turned around and closed the screen door. She thought back to Joey and how she said that Robbo was around her place last night. "I think I might no where he is" Charlie said as she walked off toward the car.

Watson followed with a confused look on her face. "And where's that senior?"

"Brett Collins house" Charlie said as she hopped inside the police car.

---

Joey and Aden entered her house. Aden felt uneasy as walked through the house; it was untidy and smelt of cigarettes and alcohol - just like his house used to smell.

"Jefferies, you need to get some new friends" Robbo said as he walked out from the kitchen.

Joey put her hand on top of Aden's clenched fist and whispered "Don't. He's really not worth it"

Aden unclenched his fist for his friend's sake. Although if he had his way, he'd gladly wipe the smug look off Robbo's face.

"She's got a leash on you mate" Robbo laughed.

"C'mon, I need to get some of my things" Joey pulled Aden upstairs toward her room.

"Do you need any help?" Aden asked as Joey grabbed a suitcase from under her bed.

"No, its fine thanks. I'm not packing much, just the necessities" She smiled.

15 minutes later Joey was packed and the two made their way down stairs.

"Robbo, where is Brett?" Joey asked as she stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

"'Ere" Brett said as he walked out from the kitchen. "Where the hell do you think you're going?" He asked as he looked at his sister's suitcase in Aden's hand.

"I'm leaving, I'm moving in with a friend" Joey spoke nervously.

"What, him?" Brett asked pointing to Aden.

"No, another friend" Joey spoke with the same nervous tone.

"What the lesbian friend?" Robbo asked from the couch.

"What lesbian friend?" Brett asked. "Joey you're not moving in with a dyke"

"You can't tell me what I can and can't do Brett, not now." Joey raised her voice. She was still nervous and Aden could tell, he placed his hand on her lower back for support.

Robbo saw Aden place his hand on Joeys back. "Y'know, putting your hand there won't get you anywhere mate, you know she's a lezzy" Robbo said as he took a sip of his beer.

"What?" Brett asked shocked.

"Oh you really are low aren't you?" Aden said.

"WAS IT NOT ENOUGH TO RAPE ME ROBBO?" Joey yelled, she had tears building up in her eyes. "Do you HAVE to go and stick the knife in further?!" Her face was growing red with anger.

"Rape?" Brett asked, still in shock from what he had been hearing.

"I thought she could do with some of this inside of her" He said grabbing his private parts. "Show her what she'd be missing. Like you did with Bec"

Joey's jaw dropped and she looked at Brett. "You...you raped Bec?" Joey's question was barely audible.

"Things got out of control. I was hurt and angry" Brett said raising his voice.

"So you raped her?" Joey said as tears fell down her face. "I knew you were an ass Brett, but I didn't think you would stoop that low" Joey went to walk forward, Aden quickly followed.

"Joey you're not going anywhere" Brett moved to block the door. "We can get you help, we will find somewhere for you to go, help get this sickness out of you"

"BRETT IT IS NOT A SICKNESS! YOU'VE GOT A SICKNESS, HOMOPHOBIA IS A SICKNESS!" Joey stopped in front of her brother, yelling in his face.

Brett raised his hand and slapped Joey across the face "DON'T YELL AT ME LIKE THAT" Brett screamed at Joey.

Aden stepped forward and pushed Brett up against the wall "You're scum of the earth, raping people, beating them up."

"Ade let's just go" Joey said as she rubbed her cheek.

Robbo came up behind Joey and put his arm around her neck, pulling her back in to him. "Let him go or else"

Aden turned his head slightly to see Robbo holding a pocket knife to Joey's neck.

"Don't do anything stupid Robbo" Aden said as he let go of Brett's shirt, Brett pushed Aden into the wall, making Aden hit his head hard.

"I think you need to leave" Brett hissed at Aden. "Take her upstairs" Brett told Robbo, not taking his eyes off of Aden.

"C'mon bitch" Robbo said pulling Joey roughly as he made his way across the lounge room.

"NOOOOO" Joey screamed. "Brett don't do this to me, it doesn't have to be this way" Joey cried and kicked her legs in the air.

"Shut up or this knife will find it's way in to your neck" Robbo pulled Joeys hair and dragged her up stairs.

---

"What makes you think Cruise will be here?" Watson asked as she and Charlie pulled up outside Brett's house.

"Joey mentioned last night that he was here. He spends a lot of time here" Charlie spoke as she got out of the car, placing her hat on her head.

"Let's hope he is then" Watson said as she got out of the car and followed Charlie to the front door.

Charlie knocked on the door - There was no answer.

---

Brett placed tape across the mouth of an unconscious Aden as he lay tied up on the floor. He slowly made his way up stairs, ignoring the knocking on his front door.

---

Robbo walked over and peaked out the window, he had just finished shoving a sock in Joey's mouth.

"Aww, isn't that sweet. Your little cop girlfriend is downstairs knocking at the front door, she must be worried about you" Robbo laughed as he walked back to the bed, placing a leg on either side of Joey's body so that he was straddling her. "What a shame she won't be able to hear you scream" He said as he leaned down and kissed Joey's exposed breasts.


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the chapter! **

**It means so much to me that you are enjoying reading this story and**

**are wanting more =) I'm pretty pleased with how this story is going so far! **

**Almost every review started with 'OMG'! :P**

**tbh that was my reaction when I wrote it haha.**

**-**

**I know this is only a small chapter, but I promise I will make it up**

**to you by uploading a few more chapters before Saturday **

**as I am going away for 5 days and won't be able to update!.**

**-**

**MissToastie**

*****************************************************************************

**Chapter Ten :**

"Charlie, I don't think anyone is here" Watson said as Charlie knocked on the door once again.

"Something doesn't seem right" Charlie replied. "Open up this is the police" Charlie yelled as she continued knocking.

"Senior, seriously, no one is there, let's just go, maybe Cruise is at his home now" Watson grabbed Charlies arm to stop her from knocking.

Charlie sighed and turned around to leave the house, stopping when she noticed a familiar car. "That's Aden's car" She paused and turned her head to look at the house.

"Joey mentioned she had borrowed it to come in to the station earlier" Charlie rushed back to the door. "Something's up, call for back up" Charlie spoke quickly.

"Back up? Under what grounds?" Watson asked confused.

"Just tell them we need back up NOW" Charlie yelled as she began to kick at the door.

---

Ruby was sat in the lounge room watching telly when there was a knock at the front door. She got up and answered it.

"Hey Nic, what are you doing here early?"

"Early? I was about to apologise for being late!" Nic said as she entered the house.

Ruby looked down at her watch; it read 5:15pm. "Oh, wow. I didn't even notice the time. Joey hasn't been home yet, nothing's been cooked" Ruby said as she and Nicole walked in to the lounge room.

"Lucky I had a snack when I got to The Diner then" Nicole laughed as she sat on the couch next to her friend. "Maybe she went shopping for some food?"

"Yeah, maybe" Ruby smiled at the blonde sitting next to her. "I just hope nothing's up"

---

"Back up is on the way Charlie" Watson said as she placed her walkie talkie in her belt.

"Open...you...stupid...thing" Charlie gritted her teeth as she continued to kick the door.

"Need help?" A voice from behind them asked.

Charlie turned around to see Tony and a heavily pregnant Rachel walking by.

"We can't really get help from the public..." Watson started

"Yes please Tony, can you break it down" Charlie cut Watson off. "It's an emergency"

Watson stared at Charlie and shook her head as Tony entered the yard.

"What kind of an emergency?" Rachel worriedly asked.

"She doesn't know" Watson mumbled, Charlie shot her a dirty look.

"Something isn't right, I just know it. Joey is inside and" Charlie placed her hand on her head; tears were starting to form in her eyes. "I just know something is wrong"

Charlie, Watson and Rachel's attention turned to the front door when they heard a crash and yelp from Tony.

"Door's open" Tony said as he sat up holding his shoulder.

---

"FUCKING HELL" Robbo screamed as he heard the crash down stairs. He climbed off of Joey.

Joey lay on the bed, crying. Thankful that someone had come before Robbo repeated what he had done a week ago.

---

"Police" Watson yelled as she entered the house.

"Joey" Charlie yelled as she followed Watson. "Jesus!" Charlie yelled as she noticed a tied up and heavily bleeding Aden laying on the kitchen floor, she ran over, bent down and felt

For a pulse.

"Charlie how is he?" Rachel said walking over to where Charlie and Aden were.

"He…he has a sli...slight p-pulse" Charlie stuttered out. She was usually professional at times like this, but all she could think about was Joey and how she would be if this is what Aden was like.

---

Robbo quickly re-dressed himself. "Fuck, fuck, fuck" He said as he paced the bedroom floor. "What am I going to do?!" He yelled and kicked the wall several times.

Joey lay in bed, trying to control her tears, she was finding it hard to breathe.

"Where's Brett?!" Robbo spoke softy, trying to think where his friend could have gone. He walked out of the bedroom and across to Brett's bedroom.

---

"Charlie, someone is upstairs" Tony said as he ran over to Charlie. "Oh jesus Aden" He bent down.

"Tony get me a wet towel, I need to clean this blood up and see where the wound is" Rachel said to Tony. He nodded and got up in search of a towel to wet.

"Charlie, I need your back up" Watson said to Charlie.

The two police officers pulled their guns from their belts and made their way up stairs.

---

Robbo slouched down Brett's door, crying hysterically.

"Police! Don't move" Watson yelled, facing her gun toward Robbo.

Robbo didn't move.

Watson moved toward him and looked in Brett's room.

"Senior"

Charlie walked over to the door way, following Watson's eyes. Her jaw dropped when she saw Brett hanging by a sheet from the ceiling fan.

Watson rushed forward to cut Brett's body down from the fan.

"Charlie, cuff Cruise" Watson said as she finished cutting Brett down and placed him on the bed. She turned to the door way, Robbo was sat in shock and Charlie was no where to be seen.

---

"Maybe that's Joey now?" Nicole said as Ruby stood up to go and answer the door.

Ruby answered the door and smiled as she saw her boyfriend standing there, holding a bunch of flowers.

"They reminded me of you, bright and beautiful" Xavier grinned.

"Aww, Xavey!" Ruby grinned and hugged her boyfriend. "They are gorgeous! Thank you Xavier!" Ruby said pulling Xavier in to the house.

"Now why don't I have a boyfriend who brings me a bunch of flowers" Nicole pushed her bottom lip out.

"Because my Xavey is one in a million!" Ruby cheerily said.

---

"Joey?!" Charlie yelled as she quickly made her way up the hall way. "Jo?"

Joey heard Charlies voice and tried to make a noise but she didn't have the strength. Hearing Charlie call out her name was the last thing she heard before everything around her went black.


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry this is a crappy update, it's pretty much just a 'filler' to make the story come along a bit quicker.**

**-**

**Thank you all as always for the reviews! they are muchly appreciated. **

**-**

**This will be my last update until possibly Thursday the 13th August as I am away for a few days.**

**Not taking my laptop, but I am taking a pen and notebook...so if I decide to write, I can =).**

**-**

**Anyway, I need to get to bed, getting up in 5 hours, ergh.**

**-**

**Let me know what you want to happen...I'm always interested to know.**

**-**

**MissToastie.**

**PS: Also, go to this website (without the spaces) and vote for Esther Anderson in the 'Fun Fearless Female women of the year' competition! **

**http://www. cosmopolitan . / **

*****************************************************************************

**Chapter Eleven:**

"Oh my god, are Aden and Joey alright?" Ruby asked her sister as she spoke to her on the phone "Lucky you turned up when you did Charlz!" Ruby sat down on the couch in between Nicole and Xavier. "Yeah, no that's fine. Give our love to Aden and Joey; I'll see you when you get home. I love you...byee"

"What's happened?" Xavier asked his girlfriend.

"Aden and Joey were held hostage!"

"What? Is Aden okay?" Nicole asked.

"He's got a bad concussion, but he's going to be okay, Rach said he can be released from Hospital in a day or two" Ruby smiled.

"And Joey?"

"Charlie didn't say much about her, just that she was very shaken up but she wasn't hurt physically"

---

"Joey, you've had a rough few days, I think it might be best if you speak to a counsellor" Rachel said as she sat on the edge of Joey's hospital bed.

Joey heavily sighed and wiped her eyes.

"It's not healthy to not talk about what's happened, Joey." Rachel placed her hand on Joey's.

"I know" Joey said as she placed her free hand over her eyes and cried.

---

"She's had a tough day" Paige said as she walked up to Charlie, who was standing out the front of Joey's hospital room, waiting to go in and see her.

"She's had a rough week" Charlie mumbled.

"I'm sorry for the way I behaved this morning, I was out of line"

"You were"

Paige sat down on the seat next to where Charlie stood.

"Can we, I don't know, just move past it? I don't want us to be over, I love were we are going" Paige paused and grabbed Charlie's hand, tugging it slightly so Charlie would look at her. "I love you" she smiled.

Charlie stared at Paige, not believing what she had just heard. "Sorry?" Charlie asked.

---

"I think you've made the best decision Joey." Rachel said writing information down on a piece of paper. "And like I said, if you don't feel comfortable talking to Dr Freedman, then you don't have to continue the session"

"Thanks Dr Armstrong"

"Please, call me Rachel" Rachel smiled and handed Joey the piece of paper. "So I've made your appointment for 1:30 Friday afternoon, if you can't make it, phone up and we'll change it for you"

"I should be able to make it, Thank you" Joey smiled. "Is Charlie still here?"

"Uh, yeah, she is, I think she was waiting out side of the room, I'll let her know she can come in and see you." Rachel said as she walked to the door. "I'll come back and discharge you when your scripts are done"

---

"I love you" Paige grinned.

"I err, um" Charlie pulled her hand away from Paige. "I...I'm not, there, yet" she said and hung her head.

"That's fine Charlie, I just want you to know where I stand" Paige stood up and kissed Charlie on her temple.

"Oh sorry guys" Rachel said as she opened the door. "Err, Joey was asking for you" She smiled at Charlie who grinned back.

"Excellent, thank you" Charlie smiled at the two doctors and entered the room.

---

"Do you want me to get you another drink?"

"I'm fine thanks" Joey smiled at Charlie.

"What about another pillow? You don't look comfortable!" Charlie asked as she stood next to Joey's hospital bed.

"Charlie, honestly, I'm fine. You've done enough for me today" Joey said as she grabbed Charlie's hand and held it. "Seriously, thank you so much"

"It's fine, really, I mean anybody would have done it" Charlie said, looking down at hers and Joey's fingers intertwined, her heart started to beat faster.

"No, Charlie, not anybody." Joey stood up and placed her index finger under Charlie's chin, slowly guiding her face upward so she could look in her eyes. "You're my very own hero" Joey smiled.

Charlie blushed and looked back in to Joey's eyes.

"Err, sorry if I'm interrupting"

Charlie quickly snapped her eyes from Joey's and looked at the person who had just walked in to the room.

"Uh, no, it's fine." Charlie slightly smiled at her girlfriend.

"Good to hear" Paige forced a smile and looked at the two girls holding hands in front of her.

Joey followed Paige's eyes, realising she was looking at her's and Charlie's hands, she pulled hers away and placed it in her pocket.

"Can I have a word to Joey privately please?" Paige asked Charlie.

"Yeah, sure, I'll be out in the hall way" Charlie smiled and exited the room.

---

Watson entered the Hospital and saw Charlie sat on a chair in the hall way.

"How's Joey?" she asked as she walked over to her senior officer.

"She's as good as can be expected."

"And Aden?"

"He's fine, he has a concussion, Belle and Irene are in with him now, he should be able to go home Thursday or Friday"

"Good to hear, well I'm going to head back to the station, you alright for a lift home?" Watson asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, Irene said she would give Joey and I a ride home"

---

"Got everything?" Charlie asked as she and Joey walked down the hall way.

"Yeah" Joey held up the pieces of paper in her right hand. "Details for my appointment with the counsellor in three days time, yippee." Joey said sarcastically and held up the paper in her left hand "And my script for the sleeping tablets"

---

"Has anyone told you, you look incredibly sexy in your uniform?"

Watson grinned and turned around. "Not recently, no" She smiled and placed her arms around the neck of the girl who stood in front of her.

"Well you really, really do" Paige grinned, leaned in and kissed Watson on her lips, pushing her backward to the wall behind her.

---

Charlie laughed and placed her arm and draped it over Joey's shoulder. "I'm sure the appointment with the counsellor will be fine" she paused. "And look at it this way, you only HAVE to go once, if you don't like it, you simply don't go anymore"

"Very true and who knows, it might do me the world of good to see..." Joey looked at the piece of paper in her right hand "Dr Freedman"

"I've heard she is very good at her job" Charlie smiled and the two turned the corner, stopping when they saw Paige and Watson kissing against the wall.


	12. Chapter 12

**Thank you to those who posted saying for me to have a good week away...**

**it was pretty good! Sorry to be home really, but at least I get to write**

**now that I'm back. **

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**Gayornot : I haven't stopped posting =) Don't worry about that, I won't stop posting until people tell me they've had enough of the story haha.**

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**I would have got this up around 15 hours ago, but I fell to sleep at my laptop...which is kind of good as I needed to get some sleep before today.**

**I wrote a few more chapters today, and I will be posting the next one when I get home in a few hours time, I've sadly got a funeral to attend**

**to in 30 minutes and then a few things relating to the funeral to do afterward. So expect the next chapter in roughly *counts* 10 hours time!**

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**Let me know what you think of this chapter! **

**MissToastie**

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**Chapter Twelve : **

Charlie stood staring at her girlfriend and her colleague kissing for what felt like a life time to Charlie, she had tears forming in her eyes.

---

"Mmmm" Paige said pulling back from Watson's mouth. "I've missed you"

---

"Let's get you home" Charlie mumbled to Joey and walked down the corridor, wiping her tears.

Joey nodded and followed after Charlie.

---

Watson smiled and leaned back in to kiss Paige, but stopping as she saw her senior officer walking behind them. "Shit" she mumbled, pushing her 'friend with benefits' away.

"What?" Paige asked and turned her head to see were Watson was looking. "Oh fuck!" She said as she saw Charlie walking out the exit of the hospital, with Joey walking just behind her.

---

Charlie and Joey hopped in Charlie's car and headed back to Charlie's. The car trip was silent with neither of them knowing what to say.

"Joey are you okay?!" Ruby asked as the two entered the house. "Charlie told me what happened, I'm sorry!" Ruby hugged Joey.

"I'll be okay thanks Ruby" Joey smiled at the younger Buckton and watched as the older Buckton walked past them and headed up stairs. "Your sister isn't though, I think you should go and talk to her"

"Why what's happened?" Ruby asked with a confused look on her face 'Is she ok?!"

"I...think you should ask Charlie. It's really none of my business"

---

"Shit...I can't believe she saw us" Paige said as paced around her office "What was I thinking...kissing you in a public place...were Charlie was!"

"Well...if you look at it this way...she now knows about us...we can be together" Watson smiled.

"George...it's not as easy as that." Paige sat down on the chair behind her desk.

"Why not?" Watson questioned. "Think about it, there will be no more sneaking around...no more night shift visits...just you and me...together where ever we want to be"

"Look I have to go talk to Charlie" Paige stood up and walked to the door "I'll phone you later or something"

---

"She's what?"

"She's cheating on me Ruby." Charlie cried into her pillow. "Paige has been fucking around with Watson"

"Oh Charlie" Ruby said as she slipped her arms around her sisters waist and leaned her head on her back. "Paige isn't worth it; you can do SO much better than her"

"I thought you liked Paige" Charlie said through sniffles.

"I did at first and then when she moved in, not so much"

"Why didn't you tell me you didn't like her?"

"Because you seemed happy, Charlz. I wasn't going to tell you I didn't like your girlfriend if she was making you happy"

"I wasn't happy, Ruby" Charlie said as she placed her hand on top her sisters hand "Ok, maybe I was at first, but I haven't been happy for a few months" Charlie let out a small laugh "I don't even know why I'm crying, it's not like I love her or anything" Charlie sniffed. "I just don't understand why she cheated on me...I mean; she told me she loved me today"

"No one likes being cheated on Charlie, even if you don't love the person you're with, you're still going to be hurt." Ruby kissed her sister lightly on her back and stood up to sit in front of Charlie, she lifted her sister's head up.

"I suppose" Charlie slightly smiled.

"What I want to know is why, of all people to cheat on you with, did she do it with Watson?" Ruby scrunched her face up.

Charlie laughed. "I've got no idea"

"I mean, seriously, she isn't the best looking gal in the world"

Charlie laughed again. "You always know how to make me feel better Rubes"

"It's what you do when someone has been left for someone else, or has been cheated on." Ruby smiled. "But in this case, I'm not lying"

---

Joey was sat in the kitchen; she looked up as she saw Paige enter.

"Where's Charlie?" Paige asked.

"She's upstairs, but I don't think she wants to see you"

Paige ignored what Joey said and made her way upstairs, opening the door to her bedroom, she was greeted with a dirty look from Ruby.

"Ruby can you please leave, I need to speak to your sister" Paige asked as she stepped inside the room.

Ruby was about to speak when Charlie placed her hand on her leg. "I'll be fine Rubes, Go keep Joey company" Charlie smiled and watched as Ruby exited the room.

"Charlie..." Paige began as she closed the door "I'm so sorry...you weren't meant to see what happened today"

"Really? I mean, it's not like you were going at it in a dark closet, you were kissing her in an open corridor!" Charlie raised her voice.

"I'm sorry...I...was just...I don't know." Paige said sitting on the bed.

"You told me that you loved me today and less than an hour later, you have your tongue shoved down someone else's throat?!" Charlie said hopping out of bed. She didn't want to be sat anywhere near Paige.

"I'm sorry Charlie" Paige began.

"STOP SAYING YOU'RE SORRY! You don't know the meaning of it!" Charlie yelled. "You don't know the meaning of a lot of things" Charlie croaked out.

"I do know the mean" Paige started, but Charlie cut her off yet again.

"You don't Paige! You don't know the meaning of 'I'm sorry', you don't know the meaning of 'Commitment' of 'Trust' of 'loyalty' of 'keeping it in your pants' and you most definitely don't know the meaning of 'I love you'...because if you love someone, you don't go around sleeping with someone else." Charlie yelled, crying as she did.

"It was a mistake Charlie. A big mistake" Paige said moving closer to Charlie. "She means nothing to me. I want to be with you...please, just give me another chance" Paige said as she placed her arms around Charlie's neck. "Give me a chance to show you that I really do love you. Georgie means nothing to me, she was just, there."

---

"I can't believe Paige would cheat on Charlie" Ruby said as she stirred her Milo in the glass.

"I know." Joey said as she watched Ruby stir her Milo. "Who in their right mind would cheat on Charlie?"

Ruby looked up at Joey and smiled.

"This Watson has nothing on Charlie." Joey paused. "Charlie is beautiful, kind, funny, sexy, caring." Joey looked down at the table and blushed.

"And Watson is none of those" Ruby grinned as she watched Joey talking about her sister "She looks like a dogs breakfast...on her good days!"

"She has 'good days'?" Joey asked and the two started laughing. "Looks aren't everything though."

"True" Ruby nodded. "But, I don't see why else Paige would go for her, I mean, Charlie wasn't always around due to work, but Watson was almost always on the same shift as Charlie..."

---

"How long had it been going on for?" Charlie asked as she moved away from Paige.

"What?" Paige asked, her voice trembled.

"How long have you been seeing Watson for? I want to the truth"

"Seven months" Paige mumbled softly.

"Can you speak louder" Charlie asked turning around.

"Seven...months" Paige spoke a little louder.

Fresh tears had formed in Charlie's eyes; she bit her lip and nodded.

"We've been together for a year...and for most of that...you've been screwing around" Charlie let out a small laugh "You need to pack your bags and get the hell out of my life"

"Charlie please, we can move past this" Paige begged.

"NO, we can't. There is no moving past this Paige. I won't be able to trust you ever again. I don't want to trust you. I don't want to look at you; I don't want to be under the same damn roof as you. Pack your bags or I'll pack them for you" Charlie cried.

Paige nodded.

"You have 10 minutes to be out of here or I'll be dragging you out kicking and screaming" Charlie said as she left the bedroom.

Paige watched as the door closed, she pulled her suitcase out from under the bed and began packing.


	13. Chapter 13

**Thank you for the reviews! You know I love hearing what you think of the story and were you want the story to go! **

**-**

**Enjoy chapter 13. **

**-**

**MissToastie.**

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**Chapter Thirteen :**

"I'm all packed" Paige said she placed her suitcase down at the door.

"Cya then" Charlie said, not looking up.

Joey and Ruby sat looking at each other.

"I'll come around on Friday and get the rest of my things"

"That's fine." Charlie looked up at Paige "Can you leave your key here. Someone will be here on Friday to let you in so you won't need it anymore"

Paige nodded and reached in to her pocket, and pulled Charlie's house key from her keys and placed it on the table, grabbed her suitcase and left.

"So what did you have for tea?" Charlie asked Ruby.

"We ordered two pizzas. Sorry, there are no pieces left. You know how much Xavey, Nic and myself eat" Ruby smiled and looked up at the clock. "I'm going to have an early night, I've got PE first up in the morning, I don't want to be tired for it" Ruby stood up and kissed her sister on top of her head. "I'm sorry for what Paige has done for you, but like I said, you can do so much better than her...you deserve so much better" Ruby hugged her sister and looked at Joey as she spoke, smiling.

"Ruby's right. You do deserve so much better" Joey smiled.

"Thank you" Charlie smiled.

"And I'm also sorry about your day. I'm glad you're okay Joey." Ruby said as she gave Joey a hug.

"Thanks Ruby...Sleep well" Joey smiled and returned Ruby's hug.

"Goodnight" Ruby said as she walked off.

"Goodnight Ruby" Charlie and Joey said in unison, they looked at each other and smiled.

"Sorry I've not been that good of a friend Joey" Charlie said placing her hand on Joeys.

"What do you mean?" asked a confused Joey.

"I've been so caught up with my personal life since we got home, I completely forgot about what happened to you today"

"It's fine Charlie. You don't have to apologise about it" Joey smiled.

"How are you feeling?" Charlie asked.

"A little better than I did a few hours ago, thanks" Joey paused. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay. I feel like I need a stiff drink though. But drinking doesn't solve any problems" Charlie said with a little laugh.

"It's always caused them for me" Joey said softly.

Charlie tightened her grip on Joey's hand.

"Do you want something to eat?"

"I'm not really hungry thanks. I was thinking I might just go to bed, if that's okay with you?"

"Joey, that's fine, you don't have to ask my permission to go to bed." Charlie smiled.

Joey nodded and stood up.

"Thank you for everything today Charlie, you're really amazing" Joey smiled and exited the kitchen.

Charlie sat smiling, after her shit day today; it was amazing that Joey could still make her smile. 'She's something special' Charlie thought to herself before getting up and retiring to bed herself.

---

"Hi" Paige smiled as Watson opened her door.

"Hey..." Watson looked down at the suitcase in Paige's hand "Charlie kick you out then?"

"Sort of, yeah." Paige looked down at her suitcase then back at Watson. "Don't suppose I can stay here for a while?"

"Of course you can" Watson beamed and stepped back, letting Paige enter her house.

"So what happened? Did you's talk?" Watson asked as Paige entered the lounge room after placing her suitcase in Watson's room.

"Yeah, we spoke. And I told her everything about us, how we had been together for the last seven months" Paige paused "She begged me to stay, but I told her I was leaving her for you" Paige lied.

"Really?" Watson smiled.

"Really, George, I love you and I want to be with you" Paige grinned.

"I love you too Paige" Watson said as she leaned in and kissed Paige.

"Mmmm" Paige said as she pulled away "Let's continue this upstairs"

---

It was 6 am, Joey was wide awake, she had barely slept during the night. She kept thinking about what had happened to her, Brett hanging himself and most of all, she couldn't stop thinking about Bec, she couldn't believe that Brett had raped her. Joey sighed and rolled out of bed and headed for the shower.

---

Charlie lay awake, she had to be up for work in an hour and she'd only managed to get two hours sleep; having spent most of the night laying in bed watching movies, she hadn't cried a single tear since Paige left, she was over crying. Charlie told herself that she would find someone who was deserving of her. She smiled and got out of bed and went to make some breakfast.

---

"You get up for work too early" Paige mumbled as Watson's alarm clock was buzzing around the room.

"Mmm tell me about it" Watson said as she climbed out of bed and walked over to her dressing table to turn her alarm off.

"Why on earth is your alarm clock all the way over there?" Paige asked as she sat up watching Watson walk over to the dressing table.

"Because if it was on the table next to me, I'd roll over and switch it off and go back to sleep" Watson said as she stretched. "This way, I actually have to get up and turn it off, and I don't fall back to sleep"

"Its 6:15 in the morning, I didn't think you needed to be at work til 8? Surely it doesn't take you that long to get to work; the station is only 15 minutes from here!"

"I'm as slow as a turtle in the morning" Watson said before turning to the door. "Go back to sleep, I'm going to shower"

"I can't go back to sleep knowing you're in the shower" Paige stood up grinning "I'm coming with you" Paige and Watson ran out of the bedroom and to the shower.

---

Twenty minutes later Joey walked in to the kitchen, smelling toast, tomato and eggs.

"Mmm that smells yum!" Joey grinned.

"Good morning, would you like some?" Charlie smiled and asked Joey.

"Yes please!" Joey sat down at the kitchen table.

"How did you sleep?" They both asked in unison.

"I think you need to get out of my head" Charlie laughed.

"Err; I think YOU need to get out of MY head"

The two laughed.

"Argh I am glad you are both happy" Ruby said as she walked in to the kitchen, yawning. "But it's too early to be loud!" She joined Joey and sat at the table.

"Why are you awake then?" Joey asked.

"Because I smelt food" Ruby replied innocently

Joey shook her head and laughed.

"Why are you awake so early?" Ruby asked.

"Couldn't sleep much last night"

Ruby smiled sympathetically at Joey and nodded.

"I hope you're making me some of that Charlz"

"Yes garbage guts, I am"

---

It was nearing 8 am; Charlie was rushing about the house trying to find her mobile phone.

"Aaah where is the stupid thing?!" A frustrated Charlie yelled.

"Looking for this?" Joey asked holding up Charlie's mobile.

"Ah! Yes! Thank you!" Charlie grinned and grabbed the phone from Joey, their fingers brushed lightly against each others; Charlie blushed and felt like she had 100 butterflies fluttering around in her stomach.

"It's fine. You should get going, otherwise you're going to be late" Joey smiled.

"Ah yes" Charlie placed her phone in her pocket. "Ruby!" Charlie called out.

"5 minutes!" Ruby shouted from up stairs.

"I don't have five minutes Ruby!" Charlie shouted back.

"If you'd like, I can walk Ruby to school?"

"Are you sure?"

"Positive, I'm going to see Aden today, so Ruby can give me company on the way" Joey smiled.

"Thank you" Charlie grinned. "Joey is going to walk you to school" Charlie shouted out to her sibling.

"Okay" Ruby shouted.

"This wouldn't be happening if she could be trusted to actually go to school" Charlie said to Joey, speaking a little loud so Ruby could hear her.

"I wagged school for one day Charlie, ONE DAY" Ruby shouted.

---

"Babe...I've got to go to work now, I'm going to be late" Watson said pushing Paige off of her.

"Okay" Paige pouted. "What time does your shift finish?"

"Six...what time does yours start and finish?"

"10 and it usually finishes around 9, but seems I left an hour early yesterday, I will have to stay back. So I won't be home 'til 10:30ish"

"I'll see you when you get home then" Watson grinned and kissed her girlfriend on her lips and ran out the door.

---

"Sorry I'm late" Charlie said as she walked in to the station.

"That's fine senior, just don't make a habit out of it" McGrath said, looking up from the paperwork he was looking through.

"Sorry I'm late" Watson said as she entered the station.

Charlie looked at her and walked in to her office.

"Its fine Constable, just don't make a habit out of it" McGrath said, repeating himself.

---

Joey said goodbye to Ruby and watched as she entered the school grounds, watching as Ruby disappeared in to the school building, she walked down the path on the way to the hospital.

"Excuse me"

Joey turned around to see a girl running up to her.

"Hi, sorry to disturb you, but I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of the Hospital, I'm new in town and I'm starting my job their tomorrow and I want to check it out beforehand" The girl smiled.

Joey looked up and down at the girl who stood in front of her, she was stunning, she was medium height, medium build, she had long brown hair and beautiful green eyes, her smile was captivating.

"Uh, um, I'm heading there now, if you'd like to walk with me" Joey smiled.

"Oh really? That'd be great!" The girl grinned. "I'm Jenni Chambers" Jenni said extending her hand.

"Joey Collins" Joey grinned and shook the girls hand.

The two started to walk toward the hospital.

"So how long have you been in Summer Bay for?" Joey asked as she and Jenni walked side by side.

"I arrived yesterday afternoon" Jenni said as she smiled. "How long have you been here for?"

"I've lived her for 5 years" Joey paused "It's a lovely town"

"It does seem lovely, it's got beautiful surroundings"

"It sure does" Joey paused and thought of something to ask. "So have you moved here by yourself?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Jenni nodded. "My girlfriend and I decided to break up, she lives in Brisbane and obviously, I live here now, we didn't want to do the whole long distance thing"

Joey grinned to herself, she liked hearing that Jenni was single and in fact in to girls.

"I'm sorry to hear that"

"Thanks. So do you know any single gay girls that live here?" Jenni laughed.

"Uhm, I know a few gay girls, not sure who are and aren't single though" Joey's head was screaming to let Jenni know that she was single.

"So do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend?" Jenni asked.

"Nope, I'm single. No girlfriend" Joey smiled.

"Ah ha! Thought so!" Jenni grinned.

"You thought I was single?"

"I thought you were gay" Jenni winked at Joey, making Joey blush.

---

"Senior, can you please sign this for me" Watson asked entering Charlie's office.

"Can you knock next time" Charlie said snatching the piece of paper from Watson.

Watson bit her lip so she didn't slip any angry words out.

"Sorry" She mumbled.

"For what?" Charlie asked, handing back the paper.

"For not knocking"

"And that's all?" Charlie asked raising her eyebrow. "You're not sorry for being a backstabbing cow over the last seven months?!"

"I don't think this is the right time or place to discuss this Charlie"

Charlie rolled her eyes in disgust.

"I can see why Paige left you though" Watson mumbled as she turned around.

"What was that constable?" Charlie snapped.

"I just said I can see why Paige left you" Watson said turning around, raising her voice. "You never gave her what she wanted"

"Does it make you feel proud to be the person that ruined a relationship?!" Charlie asked raising her voice back to Watson.

Watson didn't answer.

"Get out of my office and do your work constable" Charlie hissed at Watson.

"Hard to shake that Paige wanted to be with me more than she wanted to be with you" Watson smirked. "You begged for her to stay but she left you"

Charlie stared at Watson and laughed.

"Seriously? She told you that?" Charlie laughed. "Oh, that Paige, she's always had a good sense of humour"

"What's so funny?!"

"She pleaded with me to take her back, I found out you two had been shacking up over the last seven months, I told her to get out of my house" Charlie laughed. "She even told me that you meant nothing to her, you were just there" Charlie controlled her laughter. "Darling, you're nothing but somewhere for her to live until she finds her own two feet again"

"That's bullshit" Watson raised her voice. "Paige wouldn't do that to me. She told me she loves me" Watson yelled.

"She told me she loved me three times yesterday, she doesn't know the meaning of 'I love you'; they're nothing but words to her. Meaningless words"

"You're just jealous because she left you for me" Watson raised her voice again.

"What on earth is going on in here?!" McGrath said entering Charlie's office.

Watson and Charlie looked at one an other, not answering their sergeants' question.

"Right, you two, in my office, RIGHT NOW" McGrath said pointing out the door to his office.


	14. Chapter 14

**Haha...so I am pretty certain that no one is going to like Jenni. **

**She's sort of harmless...'sort of' being the key words.**

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**A few of you are on the ball =) smarties! *gives you gold stars***

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**Hello to new readers ^_^ always nice to have you on board and reviewing and such. **

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**As always, Thank you for reviewing! **

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**Enjoy this chapter! **

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**MissToastie**

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**Chapter Fourteen :**

"So, are you a Doctor or a Nurse?" Joey asked as she and Jenni entered the hospital grounds.

"Actually, I'm a paramedic." Jenni smiled at Joey. "I'm the new Ambo in town"

"Aw wow" Joey grinned "Good luck with that. My friend used to work as an Ambo until she got a transfer to the city"

"A friend or a girlfriend?"

"A friend. She's straight. Married with a kid now" Joey smiled.

"You've got a beautiful smile Joey"

"Thanks" Joey said blushing.

"Look, I know we only just met, but I don't suppose you want to do something for lunch today?"

"Uhm, wow, yeah sure"

"Brilliant!" Jenni looked at her watch "It's now 9 am, how about we meet here around 11:30; you mentioned you were here to see a friend, is that enough time?"

"Yeah that's plenty of time" Joey smiled. "We can meet here and then go down to the diner?"

"I have no idea what the diner is, but as long as it serves yummy food, I'm there!"

---

"What the hell is going on between you two?" McGrath asked as the two girls stepped inside his office.

"Nothing sir" Watson replied.

"Don't tell me nothing girl, it was obviously something for you two to be causing such a scene at work" McGrath raised his voice. "Senior?"

Charlie swallowed hard.

"I'm sorry sir; we were letting our personal life get in the way of our work. It won't happen again"

"It better not, because if it does, you'll both be suspended" McGrath said sitting down on his chair.

"You can't suspend us over that!" Watson said.

"Can't I? Do it again and see what I can and can't do Constable" McGrath paused. "Watson, you can go back to work, I need to speak to Senior Constable Buckton"

Watson nodded and left the room.

"Take a seat Charlie"

Charlie nodded and sat down on the seat in front of her Sergeants' desk.

"What's this about Darren?"

"Look, this might just be a rumour, but I've heard you've got the young girl who was involved with the Robert Cruise case, living at your house"

---

"Heyy Ade" Joey said as she sat down on the chair next to Aden's bed.

"Hey, how are you?" Aden asked.

"Strangely, I'm okay" Joey smiled. "How are you?"

"Yeah, not too bad hey. Sore noggin though" Aden slightly laughed. "Sorry to hear about your brother, Jo"

"Thanks" Joey smiled. "He's gone now. He can no longer hurt me."

Aden slowly nodded, understanding where Joey was coming from.

"Apparently Charlie and Paige broke up?"

Joey looked at Aden and nodded.

"Yeah, we were on our way out of here yesterday evening, and we saw Paige and Watson kissing in the corridor"

"Poor Charlie" Aden paused "It's good that you're okay though"

"Yeah, I sort of just met someone" Joey slightly paused. "But I'm probably reading too much in to it"

"Just met someone? Just now? What's her name?" Aden questioned as he smiled.

"Her name is Jenni, she's the new ambo here" Joey smiled.

"She cute?"

"She's gorgeous!" Joey grinned.

---

"It's, err, not a rumour Darren"

"It's not?" McGrath asked, watching as Charlie shook her head 'no'. "Charlie, you can't have someone who is tied to a case living with you"

"She's a friend"

"When did you meet her?"

Charlie looked down.

"Let me guess, when the case started?" McGrath asked, watching yet again as Charlie nodded. "Charlie..."

"I know, but she's becoming a good friend, I'm not kicking her out."

Now it was Charlie's turn to watch as McGrath nodded.

"What does Paige think of this?" McGrath asked.

Charlie bit the inside of her mouth.

"Paige and I are no longer together. We broke up last night, She's now with Watson" Charlie let the last bit slip.

"Oh? And that's why you and Georgina were fighting?"

"Pretty much, yes"

"Are you going to be able to continue working with her?"

"As long as she keeps out of my way for the next week, I'll be fine"

"I'll change the rosters and make sure the two of you aren't on and duties together" McGrath smiled.

---

11:30 had come around quick. Joey and Aden had spent the few hours talking about everything and anything, they were becoming really good friends, they had 100% trust for each other, which Joey felt was weird, all her life she had found it hard to trust anyone, but over the last week, she had found herself completely trusting both Aden and Charlie. Joey said her goodbyes to Aden and went to wait for Jenni out the front of the hospital, smiling to herself as she exited the hospital to see Jenni sat on a bench waiting for her.

"Sorry to keep you waiting" Joey said as she approached Jenni.

"That's fine, I wasn't waiting for long." Jenni smiled and stood up. "How is your friend?"

"He's good, He get's to come home tomorrow, so that will be good" Joey grinned and the two made their way to The Diner.

---

"Is it alright if I go get the lunches now?" Charlie asked McGrath.

"Yeah that'll be fine Senior" McGrath smiled at Charlie.

Charlie left the station and headed to the diner to pick up the stations lunches.

---

"You look older than 21!" Joey said to Jenni. "Oh please don't get offended by that!"

Jenni laughed.

"That's fine, I get told all the time."

"Phew!" Joey said laughing.

"I can't believe you're single Joey, you're incredibly gorgeous. Is there anyone you're in to?"

"Maybe" Joey blushed and took a sip of her milkshake.

---

Charlie pulled up out side the Diner. She saw Belle walking out of The Diner; she quickly got out the car and called out to her.

"Oh hi Charlie" Belle said stopping as she heard Charlie calling out to her.

"Hey, how's Aden?" Charlie asked.

"He's doing much better thanks. Paige says he'll get released tomorrow" Belle grinned.

"That's good to hear" Charlie smiled.

"Yeah...I heard about what happened." Belle paused. "I'm sorry to hear that Charlie"

"Thanks Belle." Charlie said licking her lips. "Say hello to Aden for me, when he gets out of hospital the two of you will have to come around one night for a meal" Charlie smiled.

"Yeah sure, that sounds great! I'll catch you later Charlie" Belle said before walking off.

Charlie smiled and entered the diner. Looking around she saw the usual things, Leah, Colleen and Irene rushed off their feet, School kids on their lunch break hanging around on the computers. Hearing laughter, Charlie looked to the corner of The Diner and saw Joey and Jenni laughing loudly, Jenni had her hand on Joey's arm and this sent waves of jealousy through Charlie's body.


	15. Chapter 15

**Okay, so I got the feeling that some people have dropped off from reading this story...which is fine, you know each to their own and all, haha.**

**I also get the feeling people are wanting me to write Charlie and Joey getting together already...but really, I couldn't have had Charlie and Paige break up**

**and the next thing she jumps in to bed with Joey...I like to keep it a little realistic hey. **

**But seriously, like I've said, Jenni is harmless. **

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**Thank you to those who reviewed. I appreciate it! **

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**I've written a few more chapters...I really enjoyed writing the next two (16 and 17).**

**I shall hopefuly write some more tomorrow...assuming I'm feeling better =/. **

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**Anyway, I shall stop with my usual ramble and post this small update (sorry about that) =).**

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**Enjoy and let's just say, things get interesting from here on. **

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**MissToastie.**

**PS : Ash, I shall reply to you tomorrow, I'm off to bed, I feel like crap! =/ But thank's for the B'day wishes =) **

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**Chapter Fifteen :**

"Seriously, I am telling the truth!" Jenni laughed.

"So you're telling me, you got caught with your ex in the car by a police woman and you offered to do THAT to her?" Joey laughed as she watched Jenni nod. "Oh my god! You're crazy! What did she say?!"

"Oh she told us to get our clothes on, so we did, she turned away and then Amy whispered to me that she had an idea" Jenni paused and tried to control her laughter so she could finish the story. "Then she got the cop lady to turn around and then she flashed her breasts at her!" Jenni laughed and covered her mouth with her hand; her eyes were glassy from laughing too hard.

"Oh my! What did the officer do?" Joey laughed.

"She had Amy down the station for indecent exposure!" Jenni said laughing.

---

Charlie walked over to the counter, watching the two laughing girls in the corner of the room.

"I've always been one for a bit of a laugh, in fact I love to hear laughter" Colleen started, forcing Charlie to break her eyes away from the giggling girls. "But when they are being that loud in such a small busy restaurant it really gets on my nerves! I can't concentrate!" Colleen said placing her hands on her hips. "Now what can I do for you Senior Constable?"

"Just the station lunches thanks Colleen" Charlie slightly paused "Oh and an extra strong coffee for me thanks, two sugars and"

"A tiny drop of milk, yeah yeah, you've been ordering it for almost a year now Senior Constable, I have a good memory you know!" Colleen said before she made her way to collect the lunches and a coffee for Charlie.

"Hello stranger!"

Charlie turned around and was greeted by a hug from Leah.

"Leah, hi!" Charlie smiled at her friend. "How have things been? Sorry I've not been around lately, work has been extremely hectic!"

"So I've heard! I hear you're the local hero once again" Leah grinned. "Things have been really great! Roman and Nicole are moving in at the weekend"

"That's fantastic news Leah; you two make a really good couple! I bet VJ is excited" Charlie smiled, she was happy for her friend.

"Oh he's ecstatic! Look hun, sorry but we are flat off our feet. We will have to catch up soon"

"Yeah that will be great" Charlie smiled and gave a slight wave as Leah went to the back of the kitchen.

---

"So yes, I've never really been a fan of police officers, they're always so uptight, you know, never having any fun" Jenni said looking around The Diner, she noticed Charlie standing at the counter. "Speaking of"

Joey looked around to see what Jenni was talking about, she grinned when she saw Charlie.

"Oh that's my friend Charlie" Joey said, still grinning. "She's really an amazing person, no where near uptight!"

Jenni watched as Joey spoke about Charlie, she could sense that Joey liked Charlie a little more than a friend.

"I see" Jenni smiled. "You will have to introduce us sometime"

"Oh I will! I'm staying with her at the moment. You could come around tonight or something? I mean, I will have to check with Charlie first as it is her house"

"Maybe not tonight, I want an early night before my early start in the morning, maybe Friday night?" Jenni suggested. "If that's okay with Charlie, of course"

"Sure! I will just go and check with Charlie" Joey said and excused herself from the table and made her way to Charlie.

---

"Here you go Senior Constable" Colleen said handing Charlie a box full of small brown bags of food. "And here is your extra strong coffee, two sugars and a few drops of milk." Colleen handed Charlie the coffee cup and leant in close "Now, I've also placed a few little choccies in your lunch bag, considerate it a small treat for all the protecting you do around the Bay!" Colleen grinned.

Charlie smiled and thanked Colleen, she hated taking 'freebies', but she knew she would offend Colleen, like she had done when she first arrived in the Bay, if she rejected her offer. And after all, it was only a few small chocolates, no harm done.

"No worries at all!" Colleen smiled and went to clear some tables.

"Hey Charlie"

"Joey, hi" Charlie smiled.

"I'd like you to come meet a new friend of mine"

Charlie swallowed and walked with Joey to meet this new friend of Joey's.

"Charlie this is Jenni, she's the new ambo in town, Jenni this is Charlie, the Senior Constable of the local police, my friend and pretty much my hero" Joey beamed.

"Hi Charlie, nice to meet you" Jenni said smiling warmly at Charlie.

"Nice to meet you too" Charlie paused and looked at the box in her arms. "I'd shake your hand, but that'd be a bit difficult" Charlie said, letting out a small laugh.

"That's fine, I can see you've got your hands full"

"Charlie, I was wondering, Friday night, if Jenni could pop around for a little while, if that's okay with you, I mean I completely understand if you say no" Joey said with a hint of worry on her tone of voice.

"Yeah that's fine. Belle and Aden are coming around as well, so it'll be nice, plus it will give you a chance to meet a few locals, make new friends, you know?" Charlie said smiling at Jenni.

"Sounds like a good plan! Thank you Charlie"

"Yeah, thanks Charlie! You really are great" Joey grinned and sat down at the table.

"Aah, you're so cute when you smile Joey"

Joey blushed and looked down.

"And incredibly beautiful when you blush" Jenni said, complimenting Joey yet again.

Charlie stood, feeling awkward as she watched Jenni flirt with Joey. She felt the jealousy burning inside of her yet again. She cleared her throat.

"Oh sorry Charlie, I forgot you were there for a moment, you know, I was captivated by Joey" Jenni said apologising to Charlie.

Joey sat blushing even more, a smile crept on her face.

"That's fine. Look, I best get back to work anyway, I'll see you when I get home Jo" Charlie smiled and exited the building, she hopped in the car and placed the lunches on the passenger seat next to her, she let out a heavy sigh and thought back to what just happened. She shook her head and started the car, deciding that even though she had only just met Jenni, she didn't like her. Not one little bit.


	16. Chapter 16

**Thank you all for the reviews - I'm glad you're still interested in the story =). **

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**Thank You to those who hoped I felt better today...unfortunately I don't :( **

**meaning no TAFE for me tomorrow...but meaning if I'm well enough I can write some more chapters, like I did today :D**

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***waves* Hello to the new peoples reading this story!**

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**Enjoy this chapter...these next four chapters I've enjoyed writing, so yey! **

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**MissToastie.**

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**Chapter Sixteen :**

Friday had come around quickly, which Charlie was very grateful for, it was the first Friday in months where she had all day and all night off.

Charlie and Joey were sat at a table in the hospital; they had decided they would get some lunch from the canteen and have a chat before Joey's appointment with the counsellor.

"Are you sure you don't want me to cook tonight?" Joey asked as she took a sip from her can of coke.

"I'm positive! I can't think of anything worse than slaving over a hot stove before guests come around, everyone sitting down eating and then there being tones and tones of dishes left and you realise you can't be bothered doing them as you would rather spend time with your friends so they get left for the morning, you wake up, sometimes with a hang over, wanting something to eat or drink, you go into the kitchen and find a sink and bench full of dirty dishes!" Charlie said shaking her head.

"So that's a no then" Joey said smiling and raising her eyebrows. "Take away it is"

"Take away it definitely is!" Charlie said as she scrunched the paper from her sandwich up and placed it in front of her. "You can always cook for me Sunday night" Charlie battered her eyelashes.

Joey laughed. "I'll see how I feel, Miss Buckton"

"I love how you call me Miss Buckton; it makes me think of a very naughty teacher and student"

"What kind of school did you go to Charlie?!" Joey laughed.

"A good one, obviously" Charlie grinned. "Although I actually was naughty at school"

"I couldn't imagine you being a naughty kid" Joey said shaking her head in disbelief.

"I wasn't that naughty, I was just, cheeky and the class clown really" Charlie paused "I got naughtier as I got older though" Charlie said as she winked at Joey.

"Well there's nothing wrong with naughty" Joey paused "Miss Buckton" Joey said in a seductive voice.

"Okay, so I definitely love it when you say it like that, you have a very sexy voice" Charlie paused, licked her lips and leaned in closer to Joey "Miss Collins" Charlie said just as seductive, letting her eyes look Joey up and down, she bit her bottom lip as she did.

Joey grinned, she felt a warm tingle run through her body, Charlie speaking to her like she did made Joey melt inside.

---

"So you don't mind me coming around then?" Ruby asked as she and Nicole walked around the school grounds.

"Of course not, Dad and Leah are going to the cinema and VJ is off to the babysitter, so we will have the house to ourselves, plus, I need help painting my room" Nicole smiled.

"Excellent!" Ruby paused and took a bite from her apple. "Oh, have I told you about my plan?"

"Err, which one, you always seem to have a new one when I see you" Nicole joked.

Ruby nudged into Nicole.

"Ha ha, very funny. No seriously, my new plan is to get Charlie and Joey together"

"Do they like each other?" Nicole asked.

"I'm pretty sure, I mean I've noticed the way they look at each other and the way they talk about each other, it's really cute and you can totally tell they're in to each other"

Nicole sighed and shook her head.

"Be careful Rubes, Charlie just came out of a year long relationship and Joey has had a bad few weeks. Right now might now be the best time to play cupid"

"Trust me Nic; I know what I'm doing. I just get the feeling they're meant to be together" Ruby grinned at her friend.

The school bell rang, indicating that lunch time was over; the two girls said their goodbyes and ran off to their next class.

---

Charlie and Joey were sat in the waiting room; the receptionist just told Joey that Dr Freedman was ready to see her now.

"You'll be fine Jo" Charlie smiled at Joey and placed her hand on top of Joey's, squeezing it reassuringly. "I'll be waiting here for you when you've finished"

Joey nodded and stood up, she made her way down the corridor and knocked on the door that read 'Dr J. L. Freedman', she entered the room as she was told to come in.

"Hi Joey, I'm Dr Freedman, How are you feeling today?" Dr Freedman asked as she stood up and greeted Joey.

"I'm okay, I guess. Kind of nervous though. I've never really been one to sit down and share my feelings" Joey said nervously as she was directed to sit down on the lounge chair.

"That's fine; you'd be surprised by how many people in the world are like that." Dr Freedman said as she sat down on a chair in front of Joey. "You can talk about anything here, you don't have to talk about what happened on Tuesday or the week before hand, you can talk about the things happening in your life right now, we can cross all paths when you feel comfortable being there. There's no pressure" Dr Freedman smiled warmly at Joey.

Joey smiled, she felt herself relax.

"So, Joey, how have the last couple of days been for you?"

Joey took a moment to think how things had been for her over the last few days.

"Surprisingly, really, really good" Joey smiled. "I don't know how though, I mean I far from deserve it, but I'm thankful things are finally going well"

Dr Freedman nodded her head and wrote a few words down in Joey's file.

"Why have things been really, really good?"

"Things are just looking up I guess. I'm finally starting to feel like I'm making new friends, which is crazy, I've only just recently met them, but they seem like amazing people and they're so kind to me" Joey paused. "Especially Charlie and Aden, they've been great" Joey grinned.

"That's great to hear Joey" Dr Freedman smiled and wrote down Charlie and Aden's names in Joeys file and circled them. "Where did you meet them?"

"Well, I met Aden when I was working on Gibbsy's trawler. He's a great guy, we've become really good friends, we have loads in common like boats, cooking, snow boarding, surfing, cricket...girls" Joey said blushing. "And, we also...have a few things about our past in common, unfortunately." Joey paused and gathered her thoughts. "He's really been a rock for me, which is weird as I only met him less than a month ago."

"It's amazing how some friendships can blossom in such a short period of time. You mention that he has become a rock for you, it's completely understanding when you've got mutual things in common such as the boats, the cooking and interest in the same sex and it's even more understanding that he's become a rock for you when you both have a silent understanding of how you both are because of your pasts." Dr Freedman paused so that what she had just said could sink in to Joey's mind. "It's always nice to have someone who you know has some idea of what you have been through."

Joey nodded in agreement. It was very true, having Aden know how she's feeling is indeed nice. It gave their friendship a strong backbone.

"And how did you meet Charlie?"

The smile on Joey's face grew at the mention of Charlie's name.

"She's a police officer and she's just, phenomenal" Joey began. "At first, I thought she was just trying to do her job, like any other cop I've dealt with in the past, trying to get somewhere for their benefit, so it looked good next to their name that they helped put the bad guys away" Joey paused. "But I really was wrong, she was doing it to help me, she really was. She never gave up on me and she befriended me. She virtually took me under her wing and helped me. She saved my life." Joey smiled. "And we too have a lot in common, we get along so well, we can chat for hours, about anything and everything and we can sit and laugh forever over the smallest thing. She makes me feel safe...I don't know what I've done to deserve her in my life, but I'm very glad I did it"

"You seem very fond of her" Dr Freedman said, smiling at Joey.

"She's a really good friend" Joey said, returning the smile.

---

30 minutes later, Joey said goodbye to Dr Freedman and thanked her for her time, she went up to the receptionist and made another appointment.

Charlie looked up from the magazine she was reading and watched as Joey was smiling and was handed a small card. She stood up as Joey made her way over to her.

"How did you go?" Charlie asked.

"Really well" Joey beamed. "We didn't get down to the nitty gritty stuff that happened, instead we just spoke about all the good things that I've got going on at the moment" Joey blushed "Your name was mentioned several times...I hope you don't mind me talking about you"

"Of course I don't mind, especially as you see me as one of the good things going for you" Charlie smiled and the two walked down the hospital corridor. "So, I noticed you were given a card by the receptionist"

"Yeah" Joey nodded and looked at the card in her hand. "I've made another appointment for early next week; I think it might be a good thing going to see Dr Freedman. She can help me clear things in my head a bit better" Joey smiled.

"That's great Joey. I'm really happy for you" Charlie grinned and she and Joey made their way out of the hospital, into the car and headed back to Charlie's to get themselves ready for their three dinner guests.


	17. Chapter 17

**I'm so glad to hear that people are loving this story. It really makes my day hearing that!**

**I'm really enjoying writing this story. It's quiet fun and challenging. **

**I feel as though it's one of the best stories I've ever written. **

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**Thank you for the wonderful, amazing and encouraging reviews! **

**I love getting them and hearing what you think of the story and my writing. **

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**So this chapter was pretty fun to write, actually, the next 5 chapters were fun to write ^_^**

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**Enjoy =D**

**-**

**MissToastie**

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**Chapter Seventeen :**

"Hey Charlz, can I have some cash please?" Ruby asked as she came down stairs, it was nearing 6pm and she wanted to head to Nicole's before it got too dark, right now she was thanking her lucky stars that Nicole and Roman had moved in with Leah which was only 3 houses down from hers.

"Uh, yeah sure Rubes" Charlie said as she checked her hair one last time in the mirror. "Can you pass me my purse?"

Ruby walked over to Charlie's bag, grabbed her purse and handed it to her older sister.

"You look great tonight Charlz, dressed to impress hey?" Ruby said winking.

Charlie looked at her younger sister with a confused look.

"No? What makes you say that?"

"Uh, no reason" Ruby smiled.

"Right" Charlie said giving Ruby a suspicious look. She handed her a $20 note.

"20 bucks?" Ruby said taking the money from Charlie. "I was kind of hoping 50"

"50 dollars? What on earth for?!" Charlie asked.

'Well, Nic and I are getting dinner, some snacks and a few movies"

"And 20 dollars isn't enough for that because...."

"Because...it just...isn't?" Ruby tried.

"Here" Charlie said handing Ruby $15 "35 will have to do"

"Thank you thank you thank you!" Ruby said and gave her sister a kiss on the cheek. "So who's coming tonight?"

"Belle, Aden and Jenni"

Ruby noticed the flat tone Charlie used when she said Jenni's name.

"Who's Jenni?" Ruby asked.

"A friend of Joey's." Charlie sighed. "She's new in town, new paramedic for the hospital. Joey met her the other day after walking you to school and I met her at The Diner, she was nice, she flirted with Joey a lot" Charlie said fixing her dress.

"Ah ha" Ruby said, now understanding why Charlie's voice was flat. She was jealous, clearly.

"What?" Charlie asked looking up.

"Nothing. Anyway, I better get going" Ruby gave Charlie a quick hug, grabbed her bags and walked to the door "Seeya green eyed monster!" Ruby said before rushing out of sight.

Charlie stood looking dumbfound before walking over to her glass of white wine sitting on top of the fire place.

---

"Hi, I hope we're not too early" Belle said as Joey answered the door.

"No, not at all! Come in" Joey smiled and stepped aside to let her two friends in.

"Whoa, sorry guys I'm not here" Ruby said as she ran in to the kitchen. "I'll see you tomorrow Joey" Ruby said as she ran out the door.

"Not if I see you first!" Joey shouted out to her before turning around to Belle and Aden. "Would you guys like anything to drink?"

"A beer for me thanks"

"Just an OJ for me thanks Joey, I'm not really in to drinking anymore" Belle said with a slight smile.

"Okay, no worries" Joey smiled and walked over to the fridge, pulling a beer out for Aden and the bottle of Orange juice for Belle and herself.

The three made their way in to the lounge room.

"Hey guys!" Charlie said, standing up and walking over to greet her friends. "How are you?"

"Yeah not too bad thanks Charlie" Belle said.

"Not too bad?" Aden said looking at Belle. "She got a new job today, working for the local paper, you're now looking at the leading photographer and junior news reporter" Aden grinned, he was very proud of his girlfriend.

"Oh wow, that's fantastic news Belley!" Charlie said and gave her friend a tight hug. "So proud of you hun!"

"Yeah, that's great news Belle" Joey smiled.

---

"I can't believe Paige would do that, I thought she was a better person than that"

"You and me both Belle." Charlie said taking a sip of her 4th glass of wine.

"So what time is this gorgeous paramedic coming Jo?" Aden asked, receiving a nudge in his side from Belle "What? That's how Joey described her. Didn't you Jo?"

Joey blushed. Charlie quickly downed the last of the wine in her glass, an action that Belle didn't fail to notice.

"She said her shift finishes at 7" Joey looked at the clock on the wall, it was 7:16. "So I guess she should be here within the next 10 to 20 minutes" Joey shrugged.

"Fantastic, I'm starved" Aden said taking a swig of his beer. "So Charlie, do you know if Paige and that Watson chick are on together?" Aden asked.

"Aden!" Belle grumbled.

"It's fine Belle" Charlie said smiling at her friend. "I'm not so sure now, I know they were. But Georgie didn't turn up to work yesterday, called in sick. So who knows?"

"And who cares" Belle smiled.

"I'll drink to that" Charlie said and raised her glass in the air.

---

40 minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Joey got up to answer it.

"Jenni, Hi! I'm glad you made it, I was starting to think you weren't going to show up" Joey said stepping aside so Jenni could come in.

"Yeah sorry I'm late Joey! There was a massive accident on the highway we had to attend to at ten to seven." Jenni said as she followed Joey in to the lounge room.

"Is everyone OK?" Charlie asked, over hearing what Jenni had said.

"No, unfortunately there were 3 fatalities. They weren't locals though, looks like they were on their way back to the city, the driver lost control of the car and it flipped four times and burst in to flames. It was a pretty scary scene"

Charlie nodded; she knew too well what those scenes looked like. She was thankful she was rostered off tonight. She felt sorry for her colleagues that would have been called though.

"How sad" Belle said before she took a sip of her Orange Juice.

There was a moment of silence. Joey sat down on the couch and Jenni had followed suite, sitting down as close to Joey as she could.

"May as well be sitting on her lap" Charlie mumbled before she took a sip of her drink.

Belle was the only one who heard what Charlie had mumbled. She smiled to herself knowing very well that Charlie was jealous.

"Who's up for some food? I'm fading away to a shadow" Aden said standing up. "Look, I'll turn to the side; you won't even be able to see me. I've starved for that long!" Aden joked as he turned to the side.

Everyone laughed and agreed to order some food. Everyone was rather hungry. Joey ordered what everyone wanted from the local Chinese restaurant and they sat around waiting for their meals to arrive.

"I know, let's play twister!" Charlie said and wobbled over to the cabinet under her TV and pulled out the Twister box.

"Can we make it interesting and play naked twister?" Jenni joked and turned her head to face Joey. "I'd love to see you naked"

"I think it might be best to keep our clothes on" Charlie said taking a sip of wine and then placing the twister mat on the floor.

Aden stood up and walked over to where Joey was now standing. "She might get to see you naked later on if she's lucky enough, hey?" He whispered in his friend's ear.

"Shut up" Joey laughed.

"So who's doing the spinny thingy?" Jenni asked.

"I'll do it"

"Are you sure?" Charlie asked Belle.

"Positive, I've never liked participating in this game, but have always loved watching it." Belle said getting up and grabbing the 'spinny thingy' from the floor. "Alright everyone, are you ready?!" She watched as everyone nodded in excitement. "Alright, alphabetical order first" The other 3 girls all jokingly booed and hissed as they realised the first person was Aden.

"Favouritism!" Joey called out.

"How convenient that you're boyfriends name starts with the letter A!" Charlie said laughing.

"I can't help what his parents decided to name him, can I?" Belle said poking her tongue out at the girls, then turning to face Aden who was looking at the mat in front of him. "Okay Ade, Left foot green, right hand yellow"

Belle watched as Aden did as he was asked. "You're up Charlzy" Belle laughed as Charlie stood near the map, cracked her fingers and stretched her body. "Right foot red, right hand red"

Charlie nodded and placed her right hand and foot on the red circles.

"Jenni...left foot yellow. Right hand red"

"Oh geez that's a little far apart" Jenni laughed and looked at the mat, trying to find a way to position herself. She grinned as she found a way to do so.

"And last but not least, Joey. Left foot yellow. Right hand blue"

Joey got down on the two colours she was told to.

"Oh, nice arse Joey, thank you for showing me" Aden said laughing. Joey hadn't thought about how she was positioning herself and hadn't realised her bottom would be near Aden's face.

Everyone, including Joey, started laughing. Joey laughed so hard that she lost grip on her foot and slipped off the yellow spot.

"You're out Jo!" Belle said in between laughing.

"Ah so not fair!" Joey slid off the mat and pouted.

Everyone else laughed until they heard a knock at the door. Joey got up and ran to the door. It was their dinner. She paid for the food, tipped the guy and walked back in to the lounge room.

"Okay, so I don't really care if it was fair or not anymore, I've got food!" Joey grinned and sat down on the couch next to Belle and searched through the two large brown paper bags for whose containers were whose. "For you Madame" Joey said handing Belle one of her containers.

"Smells good" Aden said. He could feel his stomach rumbling.

"Shame you can't have any yet. You're still in the game" Belle teased. "Okay Ade. Right foot yellow. Left hand green"

"Argh, that's stupid! That's basically what I am doing now but back to front." Aden mumbled, wondering how he was going to do what he was asked.

"Mmm tastes so good!" Belle said as she ate some of her food. "How about yours Jo?"

Joey nodded "Tastes delicious. Best Chinese I've had in a while!"

"Aaah stop teasing us!" Jenni groaned.

"Okay okay! I give in" Aden said falling to the ground, he crawled on his knees to the couch and grabbed his first container from Belle and started to eat.

"Fail!" Charlie yelled.

"I'm sooo hungry" Jenni whinged.

"Give in then. Trust me it's good tucker" Aden said as he shoved another fork full of food in his mouth.

"Alright, I give in!" Jenni said and moved over to the couch, once again sitting practically on top of Joey.

Charlie sighed and stood up. "You all suck. We got through one round and you all give in!" She grabbed her wine and joined the four people eating their dinner.

---

The night went on quickly. They all sat around laughing and talking and enjoying each others company. For Aden, Charlie and Joey the night was a welcoming distraction of everything that hade been going on in their lives recently. It was also a chance for everyone to get to know Jenni and for Jenni to try and make new friends.

Belle yawned and looked at her watch, it was nearing midnight. She sighed, she didn't want to go home, but she had to work in the morning, she was interviewing Alf about his local knowledge. Summer Bay was coming up to it's 125th birthday and Alf's family were one of the first families to live in Summer Bay and his family were the only one of the originals to still be located there.

"Babe, I better get going, I've got an early start in the morning" Belle said to her boyfriend.

"True, I suppose it is getting rather late." Aden said looking up at the clock. "Thanks' for the lovely evening everyone, it's been a blast" Aden said standing up.

"Yeah it has, it's been wonderful to get to know everyone" Jenni said smiling. She had really enjoyed her evening, she realised she was becoming more and more attracted to Joey as the night went on.

"It's been really lovely getting to know you" Joey said, smiling affectionately at Jenni. She liked Jenni, a lot. But as the night went on, she realised she had only liked her as a friend. She wasn't the kind of girl she goes for. There was only one girl in the room that she went for; and as she had just recently been cheated on. Joey decided she wasn't going to make a move on her.

Charlie rolled her eyes and took a sip of her wine. She had lost count of how many glasses she had had. She found herself taking a mouthful of the wine every time Jenni flirted with Joey. She had noticed, although Jenni had continuously flirted with Joey, Joey had barely flirted with her. This making Charlie happy.

"Thank you for the night Charlie" Belle said, standing up and hugging Charlie who was sat on the couch. "We'll definitely have to do coffee during the week. We'll let each other know when it's a good day, yeah?"

Charlie nodded, not really taking in what Belle had said. Belle laughed. "I'll text you tomorrow afternoon; I doubt you'll remember any of this!" She leaned down and kissed Charlie on top of her head.

After Aden and Belle said their goodbyes and left, Charlie, Joey and Jenni remained sat in the lounge room.

"I think I better head off before I fall asleep on this comfy couch" Jenni said stretching and yawning.

_'Oh, how sad, she's leaving' _Charlie sarcastically thought.

"I think that's a good idea" Joey said smiling. Jenni looked taken back by what Joey had just said. Joey caught the look on Jenni's face. "Oh no no! I didn't mean it like that. It's just you don't really want to fall asleep on the couch"

Jenni nodded and understood what Joey meant.

"Thank you two for the lovely evening" Jenni said standing up. "You've got a beautiful home here Charlie, thank you for inviting me over"

Charlie smiled "No worries"

"We will have to do it again" Joey said.

_'Oh great' _Charlie's sarcastic thoughts once again chimed in.

"Yeah, we definitely will" Jenni grinned at Joey.

"I'll walk you out" Joey smiled and the two made their way to the back door. They said their quick goodbyes, Jenni leaned in and kissed Joey on the cheek and left. Joey walked back in to the lounge room, Charlie was lying on the couch with her legs slightly bent at the knees, her short dress was allowing a view of her rather sexy toned thighs. Joey blushed as she looked at them. She shook her head and walked over to the couch where Charlie was sat.

"So...what are we going to do?" Joey asked Charlie. Her mind was spinning from the beautiful site of Charlie's legs in her mind.

"Mmm...What _are _we going to do?" Charlie said propping herself up on one elbow.


	18. Chapter 18

**Thank's for the great reviews! =)**

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**MissToastie**

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**Chapter Eighteen : **

Charlie woke the next morning with a thumping headache, she slightly opened her eyes and glanced at the clock on her bedside table, it was nearing 10am. She slowly turned her head and faced the right side of her bedroom, she closed her eyes to try and make, what felt like a drum competition inside her head, disappear.

"CHARLIE" Ruby said a little too loud for Charlie's liking as she entered the bedroom. "Have you seen my Diorama CD that you borrowed last night? The case was on top of the fire place but there was no CD in it or in the CD or DVD player"

Charlie groaned. _'Really Rubes, you're asking if I've seen a freakin' CD? Things like this can wait until I'm awake, out of bed and not so damn hung over'_ Charlie thought.

"Don't groan at me Charlie!" Ruby said and walked over to her sisters bed "You tell me all the time to take care and have respect for other peoples property, so why can't you do the same?!"

"Ruby, it's only a CD!" Charlie mumbled in to her pillow.

"Excuse me Charlie, but are you forgetting the time you almost KILLED me for misplacing your AC/DC CD a few years ago?!" Ruby once again spoke too loudly for Charlie's liking.

Charlie turned her head and glared at her sister "Do you have to speak so dang loudly Ruby?! It's too early for this!" Charlie paused "And that's completely different, AC/DC are legendary and you knew not to touch it but you had to get your grubby little hands on it!"

"Ha, well I happen to think Silverchair are legendary as well, which is why I want to know where my damn CD is!" Ruby paused and looked at her watch. "And Charlz, it's 10 in the morning, get up and help me find it!"

Charlie continued to glare at her younger sister as she nudged past her and headed down stairs to find the object that was keeping her from slumber. Ruby followed after her.

After 5 minutes of looking around, Charlie lifted the cushion on one of her lounge chairs and found the CD, she cursed to herself when she saw it had a crack in it. She turned around and handed the CD to Ruby. She embraced herself and most importantly her head and ears for the lashing she was about to get from the youngest Buckton.

"I'm so sorry Rubes"

"Oh my god Charlie! Look at that massive crack!" Ruby screeched. "How could you be so careless with it?!"

"I wasn't careless with"

"Well if you weren't carless with it then how on earth did it get under the lounge cushion?!" Ruby asked cutting Charlie off. "What, did you _carefully_ place it under there?" Ruby asked sarcastically.

"Ruby, I think you're being a little over dramatic"

"Maybe so, but it just annoys me that you tell me one thing and go and do the opposite!" Ruby said before she turned on her heels and stomped her way upstairs and slammed her door.

"Uh oh, someone's a little cranky this morning"

Charlie looked up and smiled as she saw Joey standing in the doorway.

"Yeah just a little, I didn't take care of her favourite CD and it's now broken" Charlie sighed and sat down, laying her head on the back of the couch and placed her hand on her head.

"You look like crap" Joey laughed and entered the lounge room, sitting on a single lounge chair.

"I _feel_ like crap" Charlie mumbled. "How come you're up so early?"

"I decided I'd take your dress to the dry cleaner, I remembered it closes at lunch time on a Saturday"

Charlie lifted her head and shot Joey a confused look. "My dress? Why did my dress need to be taken to the dry cleaner? Wait what dress?!"

Joey giggled at her confused friend on the lounge.

"The dress you were wearing last night...oh my, you totally don't remember what happened, do you?"

---

Aden was lying on his couch watching a football match between Sydney and Fremantle, the volume was down low and his place was surrounded in darkness, his head felt like it was the football being kicked around between the two AFL teams. He regretted having a few more beers as he watched some telly when he got home last night.

"It's funny, this is exactly how I imagined the house to be like when I got home" Belle said with a huge smile on her face as she entered her's and Aden's home. They had only just officially moved in together yesterday and already it was starting to feel like home.

"I guess you know me well" Aden said slightly smiling as his girlfriend made her way over to the couch he was laying on. "How did the interview with Alf go?"

"It went really well. He really knows a lot of history about this place, it was fascinating to learn, I'm glad I was the one to get to interview him" Belle grinned and curled herself up to Aden.

"That's good to hear" Aden mumbled in to Belle's hair before kissing her once on the head. "I should give up drinking, I'm over hang over's"

"Uh ha" Belle laughed. "I bet Charlie will have a nice big hang over right about now"

"Yeah, she really knows how to knock a drink or two back, doesn't she?"

"Oh yeah." Belle paused "It was interesting to watch. I find her jealousy adorable."

"Her jealousy?" Aden questioned.

"Mmhmm. Every time Jenni flirted with Joey...she would take a mouthful of her drink and she spent most of the evening eyeing Joey, she's totally into her" Belle grinned.

"Charlie's in to Joey? Are you sure? I mean, she just got out of a relationship..."

"I'm positive babe. Charlie and I have been friends for a while now, I know when she is in to someone and trust me, she is totally into Joey. I just, don't think she really knows it yet"

"Okay" Aden took a moment to try and recall last nights events and match it with what his girlfriend had just told him. "But what about Jenni and Joey?"

"What about them?"

"Well, its quiet obvious that Jenni likes Joey...and I think Joey might be into her as well"

Belle sat up and shook her head. "Nup, she's not. She had many opportunities to further things with Jenni, but she didn't. And also, she had her eyes on Charlie for most of the night"

"Well, how can she not have? Charlie's dress was very short and showed off her mile long legs..." Aden stopped as he yet again received a nudge in his stomach from Belle. "Not that I was really looking or anything"

"You were so! You little liar!" Belle said punching Aden's left arm playfully. "She does have nice legs though"

Aden raised his eyebrow and a little smirk formed on his face.

"What? So I've looked a few times! They're kind of hard to miss! They're incredible!" Belle said and slightly blushed. "Doesn't do any harm to look and it doesn't mean anything" Belle said giving Aden a playful look.

"Didn't say it did" Aden said holding his hands up in defence. "If you fancy checking your female friends legs out, then be my guess, check out all you want!"

Belle rolled her eyes and leaned in and passionately kissed the love of her life.

---

"No I don't!" Charlie pouted. "Please tell me?"

"That'll teach you not to drink that much alcohol in such a short period of time!" Joey teased and received a stern look from the misery guts sat on the couch across from her. "Okay, okay! I'll tell you...geez if looks could kill, hey?" Joey joked. "You vomited all over yourself and me sort of, but yeah, you mainly got yourself. Thankfully" Joey laughed.

"...I what?" Charlie paused. "I vomited? In front of you? ON you? Oh my god" Charlie hid her beating head in her hands. "I'm so embarrassed" She mumbled.

Joey sat laughing at the sight of Charlie hiding like a shy child.

"It's so not funny Joey" Charlie mumbled, not lifting her head from her hands.

"It so is!" Joey laughed harder.

After a few moments, Joey calmed herself down whilst Charlie didn't dare to look up from the position she was in on the couch.

"Oh Charlie, c'mon. It's not that bad!" Joey said to her friend. She stood up and walked over to Charlie as she heard her respond with "Easy for you to say!" Joey sat down and placed her hand around Charlie's shoulders. "Can I just say...Chinese and wine don't look so good when they've been brought back up"

"JOEEEYY!" Charlie cried out. "Stop it! I'm already embarrassed enough! Be a good friend and stop taunting me!"

"Alright, I'm sorry Charlie" Joey tightened her hold around Charlie's shoulders. "...it was heaps chunky" Joey said with a laugh. Charlie shrugged Joey away and ran up stairs, leaving Joey laughing hysterically on the couch.

**Don't worry, it will happen soon my pretties, **_**very**_** soon!**

**SO BE NICE! *angel face***

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**MissToastie x**


	19. Chapter 19

**I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the chapter and found it funny (minus the vomiting?! haha sorry!)...I enjoyed writing it and hoped it came across some-what funny.**

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**Okay, I know this is another short chapter, but I'll be making it up to you next chapter ;)**

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**Thank you as always for the amazing reviews! They really make my day! They totally put a massive goofy grin on my face! **

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**Enjoyyyyyyyyyyyyy! **

**-**

**MissToastie**

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**Chapter Nineteen :**

Charlie lay curled up in bed with her blanket pulled over her head. She had never felt more embarrassed, she couldn't believe she actually vomited in front of Joey. She sighed and closed her eyes, hoping her headache would eventually disappear, she thought to get up and take some aspirin, but remembered the last time she had been drinking a large amount of alcohol, she and Paige both awoke with pounding heads and finished the last few aspirin off between them. Charlie sighed yet again at the thought of her ex girlfriend. She rolled over in her bed and lay flat on her stomach and thought back to last night, trying to remember the events the night had offered to them. She remembered having several drinks during the night, which was already obvious to her; she remembered the reason why she had drank so much. _Jenni ._ Charlie gritted her teeth together. She hated being like this, Jenni had done nothing wrong to Charlie, not one thing, yet she still disliked her, she disliked the fact that she flirted with her Joey.

_Her Joey? _Charlie thought. _What the...she isn't my Joey. She's just a friend, nothing more. I mean, the world IS a better place with her around, my life is a better place with her around, she's funny, kind, trustworthy, caring, and beautiful. Oh god. _Charlie's eyes shot open. _I remember what happened last night. _Charlie sat up quickly, her cheeks turned crimson. She held her hands over her mouth and thought what she could do. She needed someone to talk to about this, she obviously couldn't talk to Joey, not right now, not with remembering what she had done. Ruby wasn't exactly talking to her at the moment. She reached for her mobile phone and dialled the number of her best friend.

---

"Ignore it!" Aden said to his girlfriend as she slid off him to get her ringing mobile phone.

"Aden, it might be important!" Belle said as she searched for her mobile, finding it at the bottom of her bag, she pulled it out. "It's Charlie" Belle informed Aden. "Hey Charlzy...yeah I'm not really busy, why's that?" Belle mouthed the word 'sorry' to her now frowning boyfriend. "Yeah, okay sure! Meet you at the Surf Club in 10...bye" Belle hung up her phone and tossed it back in her bag. "She needs to have a chat, I'll make it up to you later" Belle leaned down and gave Aden a quick kiss on the mouth "Maybe you should, I dunno, take a cold shower" Belle laughed, grabbed her bag and ran out the door.

---

"Hey" Belle said as she entered the Surf Club and joined Charlie at the table. "What's up? How's the head?"

"My head kills, but I needed to speak to you. I've not even showered yet; I remembered what I did and had to talk about it straight away!" Charlie said speaking quickly.

"Oh, lovely. So if I start to smell something a little...off...I know where to look" Belle smiled and received a playful tap from her best friend. "C'mon, spill the beans"

"Okay, last night, after you, Ade and Jenni left, Joey asked me what we could do now, and I in return asked her the same thing and then she suggested we play twister, so we did, and seeing as though we had no one there to do the spinny thing, we just told each other where to put what." Charlie paused "I know I'm rambling, but right now, I don't care." Charlie paused again as Belle let out a small laugh and nodded. "So, there we were, playing our version of twister, getting along famously, when we some how ended up in a really weird body entanglement sort of thing and I was looking at her breasts! They were just there, they looked so, touchable, and I...sort of groped one of her breasts in my hand" Charlie blushed.

"You frisky little thing" Belle laughed.

"It's really not funny Belley!" Charlie glared at the laughing Belle sat across from her "AND Then, I moved back too quickly from how we had our bodies, tripped backward over a pillow on the floor, fell back, hit my head on the TV cabinet and pulled down the curtain!" Charlie glared even harder as Belle lost control of her laughter "And then she came to see if I was okay, and I vomited everywhere! Right in front of her, I even got a little on her jeans and not to mention all over my gorgeous dress!" Charlie placed her hand in her heads.

"I'm...so..rry..Charlzy" Belle managed to get out in between her laughter. She wiped her teary eyes that had filled from laughing too hard and took a deep breath.

Charlie looked up at her best friend and started laughing too. Really, even though it was embarrassing, really embarrassing, really REALLY embarrassing, it was rather funny.

The two friends sat laughing in the corner of the Surf Club, getting looks from other customers who entered the Surf Club and who had already been at the Surf Club, but neither of the girls cared, they never did when they got together and had a laugh.

---

"Where's Charlie?" Ruby asked as she walked downstairs.

"I'm not sure, she sort of ran out the house saying she needed to 'confessersate with Belley'...what ever that bloody means" Joey said looking up from the novel she was reading.

"'Confessersate' is this little thing Charlie and Belle made up about a year ago, it basically means they've got something to confess over conversation" Ruby smiled at a confused Joey "You know, Confess and Conversate" Ruby did little actions with her hands "You put the two together, they become Confessersate?"

"Uh ha" Joey nodded. "Charlie and Belle are weirdos" Joey smiled and nodded.

"I think it's pretty cool!" Ruby grinned and sat down next to Joey on the couch.

"You and Nicole do it don't you?" Joey raised her eyebrow at the 16 year old. "You and Nicole 'confesserate'"

"Well, naturally!" Ruby laughed as Joey rolled her eyes. "Hey Jo"

"Hey Ruby"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Err, sure." Joey gave Ruby a weird look.

"You're into Charlie, aren't you?"

"...That's more of a statement Ruby, not a question" Joey smirked.

"Sorry! ARE you into Charlie?" Ruby questioned.

"Ummmmm" Joey said.

"Oh you SO are Joey, it's easy to read!" Ruby squealed. "So what are you going to do about it?!"

"Shhhhh Ruby! I can't do anything about it, in case you forgot, Charlie just came out of a relationship with Paige, it was kind of serious, and they were together for a year!" Joey said quietly.

"Oh pish posh! It wasn't serious at all. Yeah, so they were together for a year. Charlie didn't love Paige...and they seriously didn't click" Ruby paused. "Unlike you and Charlie...now you and Charlie, you click" Ruby grinned. "Now all you need to do is get in to each others panties...well, either that or just tell one another how you feel...but at least if you go with my first option...you'll get some action!"

"RUBY!" Joey screeched. "Don't talk like that! You're 16!"

"What were you like at 16 Jo?" Ruby raised her eyebrow. Joey smirked and looked down. "Yeah, that's right. Oh my god! You and Charlie will make THE cutest couple"

"Ruby, you're so getting ahead of yourself!"

"I'm so not getting ahead of myself! You need to make a move on her!"

"I'm not making a move on her, she just got out of a relationship, so please, can we just leave it at that" Joey said and walked out of the lounge room and out of the house.

Ruby sat back on the couch, grinning, this wasn't over. She was going to get Charlie and Joey together if it was the last thing she would do.


	20. Chapter 20

**It makes me happy to hear that you're still enjoying this story! :D **

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**Thank you so much for all the reviews, I absolutely love reading them, they make me laugh! **

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**With the friendship between Belle and Charlie, I wanted her to have a bestfriend she could talk to and I liked Belle and am sad she's gone,**

**so this way, she still lives on in my story haha. **

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**And I'm joining in with what everyone seems to be saying "Go Ruby!" I love Ruby 3!**

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**Enjoyyyyyyy :)**

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**MissToastie**

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**Chapter Twenty :**

It was Sunday evening, Ruby sat at the living room table, watching her older sister and the girl she desperately wanted her sister to be with, staring one another down.

"Best out of three?" Joey asked.

"Okay, but only because I enjoy winning" Charlie said grinning and winking at her friend sat across from her.

"Oh, we'll see about that Miss Buckton" Joey replied with a wink of her own.

_'I don't even think they realise they flirt with each other' _Ruby thought to herself _'Ah, so the saying is true, love is blind' _ She grinned _'But little sisters are not' _

"Paper, Scissors, Rock" The pair said in unison.

"Ha! I told you I would win again!" Charlie said, raising her closed fist in victory. "Good 'ol rock!" she kissed her closed fist and smirked at the pouting friend across from her.

"Stupid scissors" Joey grumbled and folded her arms, continuing to pout. She shot a dirty look in Ruby's direction.

Ruby sat giggling to herself.

"Sore loser" Charlie said poking her tongue out.

"So, seems you won Charlz, what are we going to watch?" Ruby asked, ignoring yet another dirty look from Joey.

"I was thinking, something along the lines of Annie" Charlie said looking in Joey's direction, grinning.

"I'm hoping you're meaning Annie Campbell" Joey said glaring at her friend.

"Nope!"

"I am NOT watching a musical, Charlie. I refuse to!"

"That'll teach you to choose scissors, won't it?" Charlie said as she grabbed Joey by her hand and dragged her to the lounge and walked toward the DVD cabinet, but stopping half way when she saw Joey trying to run off out the corner of her eye "Hey! Get back here Miss!" Charlie said and ran in front of Joey ,stopping her and guiding her back to the lounge "If you're not going to stay here by yourself, I'll have to sit on you"

Joey smirked

"Behave!" Charlie tried to say in a serious tone, but the smile creeping on her face let her down.

"Or you'll what? Sit on me?" Joey raised her eyebrow.

"You could always bring out the handcuffs" Ruby suggested.

"Ah, what am I going to do with you two?!" Charlie said rolling her eyes and turning toward the DVD cabinet _'Handcuffs...nice idea Rubes...ARGH Charlie, stop it!' _ Charlie thought.

"Ooh, handcuffs...now that could be interesting" Joey grinned and watched as Charlie bent down to the DVDs. _'Cute arse...JOEY COLLINS, she's your friend...you know, the friend who just got out of a relationship.' _ Joey thought to herself.

Charlie shook her head at what she just heard. '_Okay, because it's not bad enough I was already having trouble keeping the thought of handcuffing Joey to the bed, out of my mind...she had to go and say that' _Charlie placed the disc in the DVD player and walked over to the couch, sitting next to Joey.

The menu for the DVD was now shown on the screen.

"Ah, Charlie...I feel as though you actually put Annie on" Joey said blinking at the TV and then looked at Charlie. "Oh no no no no, C'mon Charlz, you can not be serious!" Joey whinged.

"Oh but I can be serious" Charlie grinned.

"This is torture! Utter torture!" Joey huffed.

Charlie laughed and kept her eyes locked on the telly.

---

The movie had been on for 30 minutes, Charlie had sat singing along with the moving and pretty much reciting half the movie. Joey sat either glaring at the TV or at Charlie when she sang and the youngest girl in the room, spent the thirty minutes, half watching the movie and half smiling over at the two girls sat close to one another on the couch.

Ruby stood up and stretched her arms above her head.

"Hey Charlz, I'm just gonna go see Nic, see if she wants to go down to the beach for a swim"

"That's fine Rubes, have fun" Charlie said not looking up from the red headed singing girl on the TV.

Joey's mouth dropped and Ruby walked out the room, giving a cheeky wave to Joey as she left.

"That is so not fair Charlie. How come she gets to leave and I have to stay here and be forced to watch some ranga TRYING to sing?!"

Charlie broke her eyes away from the TV and looked at the beautiful girl sitting next to her.

"Suck it up princess!" Charlie grinned before turning her attention back to the movie.

_'I'll give you princess' _Joey angrily thought and continued to watch the TV. "You wait Buckton, you wait!"

Charlie laughed and foccussed on the movie.

---

"Poor Joey, I hate that movie!" Nicole said as she and Ruby walked along the beach.

"It's okay, I grew up watching it, it's one of Charlie's all time favourite movies...so I knew she would choose it when she won, so it all worked out well" Ruby grinned, happy her plan to get Charlie and Joey alone worked.

"How did you know Charlie would win though?" Nicole shot her friend a confused look.

"Wellllll" Ruby began "You see, I suggested we watch a movie, they couldn't agree on what sort of movie to watch, so I suggested they play Paper, Scissors, Rock and then I sort of told Joey that Charlie always went for 'Paper'" Ruby paused and grinned at Nicole "...She always chooses Rock. So Joey sat there thinking she could win with Scissors" Ruby laughed.

"Ruby Buckton, the devil in disguise" Nicole laughed.

---

Click, click, click

Charlie looked at Joey, the clicking stopped, she turned her head and started to watch the TV once again.

Pop, Pop, Pop.

Joey sat moving her lips quickly apart, making popping noises.

Charlie tilted her head to the side to hide the smile that was creeping on her face from Joey.

HummmhmmhmmmhmmhmmHMMMmmmhmmmhmmmhmmmhmmmHUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMhmmm

Charlie snapped her head around to look at the humming Joey sat next to her. Joey cheekily grinned at her. Charlie rolled her eyes and smirked.

"I wonder if anyone's actually died of boredom" Joey thought out loud.

"I wonder" Charlie said simply, she still had her eyes on the TV.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" Joey groaned and moved positions on the couch, laying back and putting her legs on Charlie's lap. "Dum di dum dum dum di dum dum" Joey said in a high pitched voice. Charlie didn't break eye contact from the movie. Joey sighed loudly and moved her leg slowly up in the air "Do do do do do do do" She put the leg down and raised the other leg "Zoooooooooooooooooooooooooooom" Joey placed her leg down and Charlie placed her arms on both of the legs so that Joey could no longer move them.

Joey once again sighed loudly and looked around the lounge room trying to think of something to annoy Charlie. _'I would have been pissed off by the time someone got to the popping' _Joey thought. "So Joey's right hand, how are you today?" Joey said in a funny little voice, making little movements with her hands. "SHIT. I'm so bored. How are you Joey's left hand?" Joey said in a different funny voice.

Charlie bit the insides of her cheeks, trying to stop herself from laughing.

"Well whattya know, I'm bored too, FANCY THAT LEFT HAND" Joey said using the same first little voice. "It must be because we're apart of Joey and every inch of her body is bored out of it's skin right now." Joey spoke in the second funny voice.

"Okay OKAY!" Charlie said grabbing the remote control and switching the TV off "Happy now?!"

"Well...sort of...I was actually starting to have fun" Joey frowned and placed her hands in her lap. "You know, you've got amazing tolerance" Joey smiled.

"Some days, other days I would have killed you by the third click sound" Charlie stated simply.

"Right" Joey paused and nodded "I'll keep that in mind"

"Goodo" Charlie smiled and noticed Joey's shirt wasn't pulled down properly and it exposed some skin. Charlie grinned and quickly moved her fingers to Joey's stomach, tickling her.

"Noo..noo...Charlie...oh god...stoppp.." Joey said giggling and squirming on the couch. "Chaaarrrliieeee"

"Awww...a little ticklish are we Joey-Jo" Charlie teased.

"STOPPPPPPP...HA HA HA ...CHARLIEEE! OH MY GODDDD...AAAH HAHA HAHAA" Joey yelled as she laughed, she had tears from laughing so hard "I CAN'T BREATHE, I CAN'T...BREAATH CHARRLIEE" Joey managed to wrap her legs around Charlie and kick her to the floor.

"YOUCH" Charlie yelled as she hit the floor, she sat giggling.

"Argh" Joey said sitting up, trying to catch her breath and contain her giggles.

"I'm not done with you yet Miss Collins!" Charlie said and sat up, pulling Joey to the floor with her and continuing her tickle assault.

"Ohh Charlie, C'MONN" Joey yet again giggle and squirmed. She used all her weight and rolled Charlie off of her and sat on top of her, pinning her arms to the floor. "Keep your hands to yourself" Joey said, looking into Charlie's beautiful blue eyes.

Charlie swallowed hard and looked into Joeys dark eyes. She could feel her heart racing in her chest, she leaned her head up, continuing to look in the eyes of the younger girl who sat straddling her.

Joey continued looking in Charlie's eyes, her heart was beating faster than it had ever felt before, her breathing was becoming shallow. She leaned in to meet Charlie, she pressed her lips gently against the older woman laying below her, it was like fireworks were setting off in each of their minds.


	21. Chapter 21

**Thank you as always for the amazing reviews, I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter!**

**I hope you like this one as well, sorry it's not a long one, but I hope the contents make up for that! **

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**Also, I got home about 30 minutes ago and wrote this chapter, I wanted to continue but I'm sooo tired, **

**so consider this Part 1 of 2 and I shall write the 2nd part tomorrow =)**

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**MissToastie.**

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**Chapter Twenty One :**

After several moments of kissing, Joey pulled back and quickly sat up.

"Shit, Charlie I'm so sorry!" Joey panicked; she pushed herself up and sat on the couch, covering her mouth with hand.

"Joey, its okay" Charlie smiled.

"Okay?! It's far from okay! It wasn't fair of me to take advantage of you!" Joey paused "You only just got out of a relationship! I shouldn't be coming on to you! It's the last thing you bloody need!" Joey stood up and quickly made her way over to the door that lead upstairs.

"What? Joey its fine, you were hardly taking advantage of me! Don't be ridiculous!" Charlie said as she followed Joey who was making her way up the stairs.

"I understand if you want me to move out" Joey said, completely ignoring what Charlie had said. Charlie shook her head, gently grabbed a hold of Joey's arm and spun her around, pushing her backward to the wall and kissed Joey hard on the lips.

---

"So do you want to come back to mine or are you heading home?" Nicole asked Ruby as they made their way down their street.

"Err, yours, definitely! If everything is going to plan, I don't exactly want to be home right now" Ruby laughed, scrunched her face and shook her head "Not that I want to think about my sister having sex!"

Nicole laughed at her slightly younger friend and the walked inside what was now Leah and Roman's home.

---

Their mouths still locked in a passionate kiss, Charlie and Joey made their way in to the nearest bedroom, quickly pulling their t-shirts and bras off of each other as they did.

Charlie tore her mouth away from Joey's and pushed her onto the bed behind them, quickly joining her and lying on top of her. With one swift move, Joey rolled Charlie on to her back, she placed one of her legs either side of her body and kneeled over her, leaning down to kiss the beautiful panting girl that was now laying on the bed below her, Charlie let out a small groan as Joey's lips came in touch with her own again. Their tongues lustfully chased one another's around in their mouths; both girls could feel the excitement rush through their bodies. Joey broke away from Charlie's mouth and placed kisses along her jaw, neck and all the way down until she came to Charlie's breasts, she let her hand cup one of the breasts, then she caught the hardened nipple between two of her fingers as she slowly licked her way back up Charlie's neck and nibbled on her ear lobe. The hand that was cupping the beautiful brunette's breast was now making its way down to unbutton the jeans that she wore, Charlie pushed the bottom half of her up with her legs so the jeans could come off. Joey slid down the bed and pulled the jeans off and threw them on the floor, she kissed every inch of the left leg, she let her tongue leave a wet trail along the thigh. Charlie groaned and held her breath momentarily as she felt Joey's lips come in contact with the part of her body that screamed to be touched.

Joey looked up at Charlie who was looking back; her eyes were full of lust, desire, and need. Charlie caught the sparkle in her friend's eyes and she knew what was coming next. Once she felt the two hands on either side of her underwear, she once again pushed the bottom of herself up and allowed her underwear to be pulled down. A smile grew on Joey's face at the beautiful site that was lying in front of her, she placed her hands on the two legs and gently dug her nails into the skin, an action that made Charlie groan and tense, she had never wanted someone so much in her life. Joey leaned in and placed soft kisses on Charlie's right thigh and continued to kiss her way up to the hip and across to the other hip and down the left thigh. Charlie bit the sides of her mouth, she wanted to feel Joey inside of her, the teasing was killing her.

A devilish smile was planted across Joey's face, she knew exactly what her teasing was doing to the older woman, she knew exactly what Charlie wanted, needed her to do, but she had other plans. She moved herself up so she was now face-to-face with Charlie, she leaned in and whispered "I know what you want, but I'm going to make you wait" The devilish smile grew. "Payback's a bitch, right?" Joey winked. Charlie closed her eyes and a smile crept on her face, she knew exactly what Joey was talking about, she thought back to earlier on when Joey had said _"You wait Buckton, you wait!". _When she said that, Joey never imagined in her wildest dreams that this was the 'payback' she was going to give; making Charlie wait for her to pleasure her. But it was the best type of payback she could ever give.

Joey watched as the smile crept on Charlie's face, she knew that Charlie knew what she was talking about. She leaned in and kissed Charlie on the lips, she felt the fire inside of her getting hotter as Charlie's tongue entered her mouth, the two girls moaned into one-another's mouths, they were both so turned on, so ready for one another, but Joey hadn't finished teasing her yet, as much as she wanted to give in and bring Charlie to a high, she wanted to tease her and make this passionate afternoon last forever. Once again, she tore her mouth from Charlie's and placed kisses down her neck and across her collar bone. Charlie's senses heightened, she wanted Joey more than she had ever wanted her before and knowing that Joey was teasing her turned her on even more. Joey paused and looked at Charlie, her eyes darker with lust then they had been moments ago, her chest was heaving as she breathed heavily. Joey grinned and leaned in, taking the hard nipple of Charlie's right breast in her mouth. Charlie groaned loudly, her body was now covered in Goosebumps as Joey's hand playfully ran from one side of Charlie's hip to the other. Charlie felt like she could come any moment, she was ready for Joey, she needed to feel her fingers inside of her, she needed to reach her goal, she needed to reach that all time high and she needed to reach it now.

"I need to feel you inside me Joey, I can't take it anymore, I need to come" Charlie cried.

Joey no longer could tease the brunette beauty, she did as she was told, she slid her fingers down the hottest part of Charlie's body and entered two fingers inside of her, which were welcomed with wetness. Charlie jerked as she felt the two fingers inside of her; she thrusted her hips against Joey, moaning loudly as she did. Joey smiled to herself, she loved hearing Charlie moan, it was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard, she continued her assault on the older woman's breast and let her thumb circle Charlie's clit as her fingers went deeper inside, making Charlie arch her back and moan once again. Joey could feel Charlie was nearing release, she could feel her tightness trap her fingers inside, Charlie continued to thrust her hips as Joey continued to trust her fingers and work her thumb around the sensitive nub. "Oh god Joey....Fuuuuuckkkk" Charlie threw her head back as waves of ecstasy ran through her body. Joey slowly continued the movements of her fingers as Charlie came down from her high, a huge grin spread across her face, she was happy that she had made Charlie come so intensely. Charlie lay back on the bed trying to catch her breath, her body was exhausted, she had never had such a pleasurable time as she had just then.


	22. Chapter 22

**Okay, so who knew that 'Thrusted' wasn't a word and didn't tell me?! =P **

***feels slightly stupid* Ah well, I make words up all the time *shrugs***

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**pmcc - Ha ha, you're certainly a smart cookie! That's exactly where they were!**

**Purplemonkeyys - Ice bucket indeed!...Hmm...now where did I leave that to *ponders***

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**What's with hardly any CJ stories being updated over the last few weeks?! I miss reading them =( They are all such good stories...and all of a sudden**

**some of them just stop...and most of the time they are at really good cliffhangery parts! What's with that?! So if you're one of these people who have just stopped posting chapters mid story, UPDATE please! I'm sure there are plenty of people who are wanting to read more! **

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**And if you've not written anything and have an idea for a story, why not give it a go?! For all you know, it could be the story that everyone get's addicted to! **

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**Enjoy this chapter! I have only just finished writing it, so I hope you all like it. **

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**Let me know your thoughts, K =) **

**-**

**MissToastie**

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**Chapter Twenty Two :**

Joey rolled off of Charlie and positioned herself on the bed next to her, her legs were bent at the knees and she almost had her breathing under control. Charlie turned her head and eyed the gorgeous girl that lay beside her, she had her eyes closed and a small smile on her face, she looked so beautiful and relaxed. Charlie smiled and continued to take in the beauty that lay beside her, her breasts were small but perfect, her nipples were hard and as Charlie's eyes made their way down Joey's slim stomach, she noticed the start of a tattoo on the left hip that disappeared under the black denim jeans that Joey was still wearing. Charlie rolled on to her side, placed her elbow on the mattress and leaned her head on her right hand for support; she moved her hand over Joey's stomach and circled her finger over the beginning of the tattoo.

"What's this and where does it lead too?" Charlie asked in a low seductive voice.

"Mmm...They're my lucky stars" Joey said turning her head to the side so she could look Charlie in the eyes and grinned.

"Why are they lucky?" Charlie grinned and raised her eyebrow.

Joey took a moment to think what she was going to say. "You asked were they lead to, yes?" Joey paused and watched as Charlie nodded "Well, why don't you find out for yourself" She said with a wink.

Charlie let out a small laugh and climbed on the legs of the twenty year old, she undone the one and only button and unzipped the zipper, she lifted the left side of the jeans up to see if she could see the tattoo, but she couldn't so she looked up at Joey who lifted her bottom off the bed to allow Charlie to remove her jeans, Charlie pulled the jeans off and was amazed by how beautiful Joey looked in the red underwear she wore. Charlie grinned when she saw that the tattoo still disappeared under the lacy underwear. Once again Joey helped Charlie to remove the underwear by lifting her bottom up. Charlie spun the underwear around twice on her finger and flung them to the floor beside her. Charlie sat with a huge grin on her face, for two reasons, the first being because Joey looked absolutely captivating as she lay naked on the bed, her dark hair flowed down and stopped just before it reached her breasts and the second reason was that the tattoo was now out in the open revealing eleven small stars and the word 'Lucky' fancily written just under the bikini line. Charlie wanted to know more about the tattoo but thought that could wait until after they had finished what was now started. She leaned down and licked along the tattoo and traced the stars with the tip of her tongue. The moist warm feeling of Charlie's tongue on her skin turned Joey on more than she had ever been turned on before, she had the feeling that Charlie was extremely good with her tongue and this excited her, she couldn't wait to see what she could do to her. Charlie kissed her way up to Joey's breasts and took the left nipple in her mouth, teasing it with her teeth before introducing her tongue and began to lick the nipple as it erected even more, the thumb of her right hand rubbed gently over Joey's hard right nipple. Charlie stopped her assault on the breasts and sat on top of Joey, straddling her, both of the naked women could feel the heat from one another and this excited the two of them. Joey leaned up and kissed the slightly older woman on her lips and opened her mouth as she instantly felt Charlie's tongue probing her bottom lip for access inside her mouth. Their tongues danced around as the pair kissed passionately and fiercely. Charlie carefully pushed Joey back on the bed so that their mouths didn't lose contact, she grabbed Joey's wrists and pinned them to the bed like Joey had done to her arms when they had fallen off the lounge before. Joey moaned into Charlie's mouth as Charlie started moving her hips up and down on top of her, grinding into her, both girls felt like they were on fire as Charlie quickened the pace of her hip movements. Feeling as though she couldn't take any more, Joey broke their lips apart and rolled her hips to roll Charlie off of her, both girls now lay facing each other on their sides. Charlie moved forward and captured the brown eyed beauty's lips with her own and moved her hand down past her stomach and began to play with her sensitive nub. Joey mirrored Charlie's actions and her fingers were now rubbing against Charlie's enlarged clit. Both girls began to move their fingers around faster as their mouths broke apart for much needed air, looking into each others eyes, they knew they needed to make each other reach that final goal, Charlie licked her lips and slid her fingers downward and inserted one finger inside of Joey, making her moan loudly as she did. Joey moved her head forward and rested her forehead against Charlie's as she once again mirrored her actions and slid one finger inside of Charlie, quickly allowing a second finger to follow suit. Charlie's second finger entered Joey and loud moans now filled the bedroom from both of the women as their fingers thrust inside one another, their skin was moist as they moved as close to each other as they could, feeling they were nearing release, they both quickened their movements, gasps came from both of the girls as they threw their heads back, within seconds they came at the same time.

---

Paige pulled up outside what used to be her house, it was 8pm and from what she could tell, there were no lights on inside the house. She walked up to the back door and placed the key in the hole and unlocked the door, entering the house she forgot about the spring on the screen door until it closed loudly behind her. She jumped and cursed to herself.

---

"Did you hear that?" An almost breathless Joey asked as she quickly sat up.

"No. What was it?" Charlie asked as she too sat up.

"It was a loud bang noise" Joey paused to see if she could hear it again, she couldn't.

"Possibly the cat next door, it comes over often and jumps on everything, probably just knocked over a pot plant from the window" Charlie smiled and gently pulled Joey's shoulders from behind and guided her back down to the bed.

---

Paige walked into the lounge room, noticing several pillows and an empty cup on its side on the floor. She shook her head at the state of the place and headed upstairs to collect the boxes she was supposed to get on Friday.

---

"So, lucky stars?" Charlie asked and raised her eyebrow.

"Mmhmm, eleven is my lucky number" Joey said smiling.

"It is?"

"Yeah, everything good in my life happens on the 11th or has something to do with the number eleven" Joey paused and looked at Charlie; she could tell she wanted to hear more of the story. "My favourite TV show as a kid used to start at 11 in the morning on the weekend and lucky for me, it was also Brett's favourite TV show, so that meant there would be nothing but the sound of the TV for an hour, meaning I was safe from his bullying for one whole hour" Joey frowned at the mention of her brother but didn't want it to get her down, so she continued on with her story "My first kiss was at 11pm, I got my first pet on the 11th of June, My first job on the 11th of December and my favourite cousin was born on the 11th of May." Joey smiled.

"Wow, well I can definitely see how eleven would be your lucky number" Charlie smiled and placed Joey's hand in hers.

"And the reason I got stars was because when my mum and I went camping one time, we were looking up at the stars and she was pointing each one out to me you know, the saucepan, the milky way and my mum's favourite, Sirius" Joey paused and smiled at the memory of her mother and her. "And she said to me "I know that our home isn't the safest place and I'm sorry for everything you go through because of your dad and Brett, I wish I were strong enough to leave them, but I know if I even tried, you're father would see it to be the last thing I ever did. So I thank my lucky stars to have a beautiful daughter like you, you're the best thing to happen in my life Joey and I'll miss you more than words can describe when I'm gone"" Joey quickly wiped a tear from her eyes as Charlie squeezed her hand. "She knew she was dying, that's why she took me camping, she died a week later"

"I'm sorry to hear that Joey. How old were you?"

"I was twelve" Joey slightly smiled as Charlie once again squeezed her hand.

---

Paige carried two boxes down stairs, sitting them on the table near the door, she opened the screen door and placed a pot plant against it to stop it from shutting, picking up the two boxes, she took them outside and placed them in the boot of her car and headed back inside to retrieve the rest of her belongings.

---

"Anyway" Joey said wiping her eyes and sitting up. "Let's not put a damper on the evening"

Charlie nodded and was about to speak when she heard a loud crash outside the bedroom door.

"Fuck what was that?!" Joey asked.

"I'm not sure" Charlie whispered and slid out of bed, quickly placing her underwear and jeans on and slipped her T-shirt over the head. She turned around to look at Joey who had too got redressed.

---

Paige kneeled down to the floor and gathered the items that had fallen out from the bottom of the box and began to place them in the other box; she jumped as the door behind her opened.

"Paige! What are you doing here?!" Charlie asked as she stepped out in to the hallway "I thought you were a robber!"

"I'm sorry, I just needed to grab the rest of my stuff" Paige paused and looked down at the floor "I guess I packed too much in this one" She said with a smile.

"I thought you were getting them on Friday" Charlie glared at her ex.

"I got held up at work, headed back to Georgie's, got my arse kicked out of their" Paige paused "Yeah thanks a lot for telling her what you did, you know about me lying to her and stuff" Paige glared back at Charlie. "I've got no where to live now because of you"

"Don't you dare blame me for you not having a place to live Paige, you're the one who cheated on me, remember?!" Charlie hissed at Paige.

Paige looked at the movement in the bedroom and saw Joey emerge behind Charlie.

"I see it didn't take you long to move on Charlie" Paige said looking at Joey. "Were you that desperate, sleeping with your new housemate who you barely even know?" Paige laughed and mouthed 'wow'.

"Fuck up Paige, it's none of your business who I do and don't sleep with, I don't need your approval" Charlie said raising her voice.

"Good because you definitely wouldn't have got it" Paige said with a smirk. "You could do so much better than some troubled twenty year old" Paige said and picked up her last box.

Joey stood behind Charlie feeling awkward and uncomfortable.

"Just leave Paige" Charlie yelled.

Paige smirked at Joey and made her way downstairs, Charlie following hot on her heels, she wanted to make sure her ex girlfriend left the house.

---

"I had better head home, it's getting late and I have an assignment that needs to be finished before the morning" Ruby said standing up from the couch in Nicole's room. The two had been lying in the bedroom watching season two of The O.C on box set since they arrived at the house.

"Oh unlucky you. Thankfully I finished all my assignments last weekend" Nicole grinned and slid off of her bed. "What about Charlie and Joey?"

"Hopefully they've gone up to one of their bedrooms and aren't lying naked on the floor" Ruby said picking her empty plate up from the floor and the two friends made their way downstairs.

"Just cover your eyes and run upstairs if that's the case" Nicole laughed.

The two placed their empty plates in the sink in the kitchen and said their goodbyes at the door.

---

Paige walked outside and put the last box in the boot and shut the hatch.

"Here's the backdoor key by the way" Paige said throwing the single key at Charlie, who caught it and placed it in her pocket. "I thought you cared for Joey"

"What do you mean?" Charlie asked.

"I mean you sleeping with her; she's just your rebound. You told me months ago that when you broke up with someone you always had the urge to sleep with the first gay or bisexual girl in site, anyone to dig your claws into to forget about your ex" Paige said raising an eyebrow.

Listening at the back door, Joey tightly clenched her eyes together as a tear escaped. _You're nothing but a rebound. _Joey sadly thought as she walked away and sat on the couch in the lounge room.

"If you remember correctly that's how I used to be when I was in high school and college, I told you that I stopped doing that when I turned 22" Charlie hissed at Paige. Joey was special to her and definitely not a rebound.

"Oh, yeah, that's right" Paige simply said and hopped in to her car, grinning to herself as she drove away from the house, she knew very well that Charlie stopped doing that when she was 22, but seeing Joey standing at the back door, listening, she couldn't resist telling a white lie. The grin on her face grew bigger as she remembered the sad and disappointed look on Joey's face as she heard what she had said.

Paige drove past the "You are now leaving Summer Bay - Thanks for coming" sign, she was leaving the little town...but for how long?


	23. Chapter 23

**Howdy doody all! Sorry I've taken a few days to update. I went back to TAFE and I was coming home exhausted and tired, so I unfortunately didn't have time to**

**sit down and write, and also, my inspiration went out the window. **

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**Thank you all so much for the amazing reviews (I totally just reached 300...didn't expect this story to be liked that much, haha)!**

**and for continuing to read this story. It means a lot to me =).**

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**I apologise for the contents of this chapter, it's a pretty crappy attempt, it truly is a filler! **

**Hopefully the next chapter is better. I don't really like the way I've written this one. **

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**Regarding Paige - She might be gone forever...who knows where this story will go! I certainly don't, haha.**

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**JessicaTheGreat - Awesome to hear! I shall definitely keep an eye out for it! Good luck with the writing!**

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**Purplemonkeyys - I'm glad I wasn't the only one to not know it wasn't a word...It should be a word! Hopefully our jinx has worn off for both of us! **

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**One last thing, don't lose faith in this story because of where this chapter went. **

**I know the girls belong together.**

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**MissToastie**

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**Chapter Twenty Three : **

_What on earth did I ever see in her?! _Charlie thought as she closed the back door and walked through the kitchen and dining room until she reached the lounge room, she was trying to calm herself down after what just went down between herself and Paige.

"Get yourself together, Collins!" Joey quietly told herself as she sat on the couch waiting for Charlie to enter the room.

"I'm sorry about that" Charlie said as she entered the room and sat down on the couch next to the girl she had just spent the last few hours having an incredible time with. "Paige can be so...malicious at times"

"It's fine Charlie" Joey said smiling at Charlie. "It's not your place to apologise; it was Paige who was out of line."

"I know, but still, I want to apologise" Charlie placed her hand on Joey's knee.

_Okay Jo, just tell her, this way you won't get hurt again and you can both continue to carry on as friends _Joey thought to herself. "Well, If you insist, Then I accept" Joey smiled and stood up, making Charlie's hand fall to the couch.

_She's acting weird. _Charlie thought. 

"I'm not sure how long Ruby's going to be out for, but did you want to..." Charlie paused and stood up and walked over to Joey. "I deno, go back upstairs and finish what we had started" Charlie suggested with a cheeky grin on her face.

"Um, Charlie" Joey paused and gathered her thoughts. _You can say it Jo, c'mon! _"I...I think it might be best if we just leave it at that." Joey couldn't bare herself to look Charlie in the eye as she said this. "Y'know, write it off as a one nighter and just go back to being friends"

"Oh" Charlie said nodding her head and fighting back tears. "Yeah, sure, no worries" Charlie forced a slight smile on her face as Joey looked up at her. "Um, do you fancy anything for dinner?" Charlie asked, changing the subject.

"No thanks, I'm just going to go to bed." Joey said with a small smile. "Goodnight" Joey said awkwardly and quickly walked past Charlie.

"Night" Charlie said with a frown as she watched Joey walk up the stairs.

Once Joey was out of sight, Charlie walked over and sat on the couch, pulling her knees up to her chest, she sat crying into her hands.

---

Joey sighed as she pulled on her PJs and climbed into bed. _What a night. _She thought to herself as she turned the bedside lamp off. _You should have known you were only the rebound Jo, it all makes sense, I mean, as if she would actually really be in to you, you're so out of her league...she deserves better than you. Why would she want some twenty year old waste of space that has trouble following her where ever she goes? _Joey sighed again and closed her eyes, trying to fight off the tears that so desperately wanted to come out. _Stop being so damn pathetic. It wouldn't be the first time you were used, just be thankful she didn't treat you like you were some rag doll like Emily did. _ Joey cursed herself out loud. _ Don't mention that name! Don't think about her. She's the past and that's where she can stay. No one needs to know about her and no one needs to know what you used to get up to with her. The past is the past, you can't change it. _ Joey turned to her side and soon fell to sleep.

---

After spending the last 20 minutes on the phone to Xavier, Ruby decided it was time she went inside her home. Entering the front door and walking down the hall way, she listened to see if she could hear any signs of two girls going at it on the lounge room floor. There was nothing but silence. Ruby grinned and entered the lounge room.

"Jesus Ruby, you scared me!" Charlie said as she placed her hand to her chest.

"Oh sorry Charlz" Ruby apologised and looked at her older sister; she could tell she had been crying. _Oh no, please don't tell me things didn't work out between the two of them! What've I done?! _

"It's fine. Maybe next time don't walk so damn quietly" Charlie snapped at her younger sister.

"Um, okay." Ruby said walking over and sitting next to Charlie on the lounge. "Charlie what's wrong?" Ruby asked. She was worried about her one and only sister.

"Nothing Rubes"

"Bulldust!" Ruby said moving a strand of hair from Charlie's face. "I can see you've been crying, I'm not an idiot"

_I'm not telling her about what happened with Joey. _Charlie thought to herself before answering Ruby's question.

"Paige came around earlier and things didn't go well. She was rude to Joey and she upset her"

"Oh" Ruby managed to say. _Why do I get the feeling there is more to this story than Charlie is letting on. _"Where's Joey now? Is she ok?"

"She went to bed a little while ago, she was tired. She'll be okay" Charlie smiled at her sister and placed her arm around her. "So how was your time with Nic?"

"Yeah, pretty good" Ruby said with a small smile. _Good ol' Charlz, always changing the subject. _"We just hung out watching telly, eating junk food, chatting about boys, you know, the usual"

"Sounds like a nice afternoon" Charlie smiled lovingly at Ruby.

"Yeah" Ruby paused. "So what did you and Jo get up to once I left?"

"We didn't really do anything" _Only each other. _"Just watched the rest of Annie whilst I listened to Joey whinging and complaining" _And then we kissed and had rather incredible sex. _"And then we sat around casually chatting until Paige disturbed us"

"Sounds...boring" Ruby spoke honestly. She was hoping they had done something and by the sounds of it, they did nothing. _Damn it! I thought my plan would work! I'm way off my game! I can't believe it didn't work! Do they really have that much self control?!?!. _

Charlie laughed at the teenage girl sat next to her. _Yeah, I guess it does sound a bit boring. Glad we had more fun than that._

"I suppose you've had dinner?"

"Yep, Leah cooked us up a lovely meal! I wish you could cook, I'm over microwave meals and take-aways!" Ruby said, crossing her arms.

"Well, you learn how to cook my little garbage disposal" Charlie said laughing as she poked Ruby in her stomach.

"Don't...Charlie stop poking me!" Ruby said wiggling away from Charlie. "I think the two of us should enrol in this cooking class in Yabbie Creek" Ruby said as she pulled a piece of paper out from her pockets "They are on Tuesday and Thursday nights, five thirty til nine" Ruby handed the piece of paper to Charlie. "I know that you've got night shift some nights, but that's okay, I can still go and you can arrange someone to get me. I think it's about time us Buckton girls learnt how to whip up a meal!" Ruby said with a grin.

"$650 for two adults or $395 for one" Charlie read out loud. "First day is free, come see if this is the right class for you!" Charlie looked up at her sister who had the biggest grin on her face. "Okay Rubes, sounds good." Charlie laughed as Ruby lunged into her and smothered her with a big hug.

"Thank you chucky cheese!"

"That's fine rocky rooster" Charlie grinned at the use of their silly childhood nicknames.

"Right, I'm off to bed, I need to finish my assignment otherwise Mr Copeland is going to hang me!" Ruby said pulling herself away from Charlie. "Goodnight sis" Ruby said placing a kiss on the forehead of Charlie.

"Night Rubester, slav a good heep" Charlie grinned.

"Nood gight" Ruby yelled out.

Charlie laughed, after all these years they still use their father's stupid sayings and how he used to mix words around, Have a good sleep turned in to 'Slav a good heep' and Good night turned in to 'Nood gight'. It was weird, but they loved it.

---

It was seven am, Joey had been awake for almost two hours, she had been lying there thinking about everything that had happened last night with Charlie, what Paige had said and unfortunately, her ex girlfriend Emily popped up several times. Joey reached for her mobile phone and dialled a number, not caring if it was too early in the morning to be calling.

"Hello my name's Joey Collins, I had my first appointment with Dr Freedman on Friday and my next appointment was meant to be on Wednesday, but I was hoping there was a possibility I could see her today. It's rather urgent" Joey paused and listened to the receptionist on the other end of the phone. "Eight thirty? Yeah that's fine, thank you!" Joey ended the call and placed her phone at the end of the bed, getting out of bed, she sprinted to the bathroom, hoping no one else was in there.

---

A sleepy Ruby walked into the kitchen, Charlie watched as her younger sister plumped down in the chair, stirring two sugars into a coffee mug, she placed down in front of the teen.

"What time did you manage to get to sleep?"

"About two thirty" Ruby yawned. "Least my assignment is complete" Ruby took a sip of her coffee. "Mmm, thanks' Charlz"

Charlie smiled and then yawned herself. She was awake 'til three am thinking about Joey, wondering what had happened to make her act all weird and decide that the two of them should just be friends. Charlie wanted something more from her, she wasn't sure if that was a relationship, but she knew she wanted something from her, more than a friend should.

"Penny for your thoughts, Charlz" Ruby spoke, breaking Charlie away from her thoughts. "Care to share?"

"Nope" Charlie smirked at her younger sister and looked up to see Joey walk in the kitchen.

"Morning Jo!" Ruby grinned, the coffee was setting in and she was becoming her normal cheery self.

"Good morning guys, I can't stop, I've an appointment with Dr Freedman at eight thirty" Joey said grabbing a piece of toast from the table and taking a bite from one of the corners.

"Is that the counsellor?" Ruby asked Joey who nodded as she had food in her mouth.

"I thought your next appointment with her wasn't 'til Wednesday" Charlie said with a confused look on her face.

"I phoned and made the appointment for today instead, I need to talk to her" Joey said before taking another bite of her breakfast.

"I better get ready for school" Ruby said quickly excusing herself from the kitchen, she could feel some sort of tension between the two gay girls, and it wasn't the sexual tension she had been sensing for the last week, it was an awkward one.

"You could always talk to me"

"Thanks, but some things are best not spoken about with friends" Joey said before walking to the back door. "I can't make lunch today; I'm job searching, so I'll see you when I get home"

Charlie sat looking hurt, repeating what Joey had just said over and over in her head. _Some things are best not spoken about with friends? What does that mean? _ Charlie sighed loudly before getting up and heading upstairs to hurry the youngest house member. "Ruby get your butt into action"

Ruby walked out of her room, she had her face scrunched up. Charlie looked up at her youngest sister and saw her dangling some clothing from her hand.

"Okay, so that's not mine and I know it's not yours because I've looked through your drawers before!" Ruby paused and looked up at Charlie who was blushing like mad "Oh my god" Ruby's mouth dropped. "You said nothing happened!" Ruby screeched. "As the flander kids say "Lies make baby jesus cry" CHARLIE!" Ruby said throwing the red lacy bra at her older sister. "I'm glad you two finally...you know" Ruby winked "But really, in MY bed?! What's wrong with your bed?! Or Joey's bed? Or the couch?! Hell anywhere but MY bed!"

"I'm sorry Ruby" Charlie said, still blushing.

"As you should be!" Ruby said giving Charlie a cross look before walking back into her bedroom to get her school bag, she did a little happy dance. _Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Ruby Buckton you pure genius! Your plan worked!! _Ruby grinned and turned around to face her bed. _Note to self: Wash sheets when you get home. _ She collected her school bag and walked past her redder than red sister. "C'mon beetroot, I don't want to be late for school"


	24. Chapter 24

**Thank you for the lovely reviews!**

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**I know some of you are getting a bit pissed off with me because the two girlies aren't together yet, but as purplemonkeyys said "All good things take time". **

**I want to get a bit of back ground information in there aswell, as it could possibly pop up in future chapters. **

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**I'd just like to wish Henriette76 a very happy birthday! =) **

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**Enjoy this chapter! **

**-**

**MissToastie**

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**Chapter Twenty Four : **

Joey sat in the waiting room flicking through a magazine, it was 8:45 and she still hadn't been called in for her appointment.

"Would that be the billionth time that Brangelina have reportedly split up?"

Joey smiled and turned around to see Jenni standing behind her. "Apparently so and it's about the millionth time Brad's supposed to have left Ange for Jennifer Aniston" Joey rolled her eyes and placed the gossip magazine down on the table as Jenni walked around and sat on the seat next to her.

"So how was your weekend?" Jenni asked.

"It was eventful, to say the least. How about yours?"

"All work and no play" Jenni sighed. "I love my job, but I'd love a day off!"

"So are you working today then?"

"Nope, I finished my shift 15 minutes ago, I'll be sleeping all day today until my shift starts at 8 tonight" Jenni pouted.

"Ah that sucks; I was hoping you'd be free today or tonight"

"Well I'll be free tonight, just not after 8" Jenni smiled.

"I don't suppose you want to go out for dinner?" Joey nervously asked.

"Wow, really?" Jenni asked, looking at Joey who nodded. "I thought you were into Charlie!"

"What made you think that?" Joey frowned.

"Just the way you looked at her Friday night" Jenni noticed the frown on Joey's face, she wanted to ask why the smile that was usually on her face when Charlie's name was mentioned, had turned in to a frown, but decided she didn't want to go there, not now. "So where did you want to take me?" Jenni beamed.

"There's this little restaurant in Yabbie Creek, it's beautiful and the chefs do amazing dish's" Joey grinned.

"Sounds good! Pick me up at 6?"

"We'll make it 5:30, I'll book us in for 6" Joey smiled and looked up as Dr Freedman walked into the waiting room. Jenni looked up and saw the Dr, so she stood up. "It's a date then, I'll see you at 5:30" Jenni wove goodbye and left the waiting room.

"I'm sorry I'm late Joey, my youngest son was chucking a wobbly because he didn't want to go to school today" Dr Freedman said as she showed Joey down to her office.

"That's fine, kid's hey?" Joey laughed, she felt happier seeing Jenni and organising a date for the night.

---

"So Charlie, why is it that you didn't tell me about you and Joey?!" Ruby asked as the two walked down the road heading toward the high school. "You had me thinking my plan didn't work!"

"Because Ruby, it really isn't any of your business" Charlie looked at her younger sister. "Your plan? What plan?"

"My plan to get the two of you together! Really Charlz, it's so obvious you two are into one another!" Ruby grinned.

"She's not into me Rubes, if she was, then she wouldn't have said that we should just be friends" Charlie sighed loudly and placed her hands in her pockets.

"She said that? After you two did it?"

Charlie laughed to herself at her sister referring to her and Joey having sex as 'did it'. _To be sixteen again. _Charlie thought to herself.

"Pretty much, yeah." Charlie paused and licked her lips. "After Paige left, I asked if she wanted to continue upstairs and she basically said we'd be better off friends"

"Do you like her sis?" Ruby paused as Charlie looked at her. "I mean like, really like her and not just in it for someone to be with now you're no longer with Paige, like you used to when you broke up with your past girlfriends"

"What is with people saying that?! That's a thing of the past, I've not done it in 6 years Ruby, I've changed, I realised how much it hurt people and swore to myself I would never do it again!" Charlie said raising her voice slightly.

"Whoa, okay, I'm sorry! Who else said it?"

"Paige said it when she came around last night, she was all "Joey's just your rebound, you always sleep with the first gay girl you set your eyes on so you can forget about your ex"" Charlie said trying to imitate her ex-girlfriends voice.

"What?!" Ruby stopped walking and grabbed Charlie's arm, pulling her back to where she stood. "Charlie, where was Joey when Paige was saying that?!"

Charlie looked at her sibling and thought for a moment. "I'm not sure Rubes, inside I'm guessing. Why?" Charlie asked with a confused look on her face.

"So Paige said all that and then Joey was all cold and said she just wanted to be friends, yes?"

"Yes, that's pretty much how it happened." Charlie said the confused look still present on her face.

"Christ Charlie, Do I have to spell it out for you?! Joey must have overheard what Paige said!" Ruby said yelling a little, hoping it would sink into Charlie's head.

"Do you think that's what happened?" Charlie asked, but didn't wait for her sister to reply. "Of course that's what happened! Joey was acting fine until Paige came...and then she said that, it makes perfect sense!"

"You need to talk to Joey, Charlie. You need to explain everything to hell!" Ruby said, taking hold of Charlie's hands.

"You're right." Charlie smiled and leaned in to hug her sister. "What would I do without you Rubes?"

"Probably continue being a blind idiot! I can't believe you didn't put two and two together. I can't see you making detective anytime soon!" Ruby teased.

"Shush you!" Charlie said as she pulled away from their hug. "Now get to school otherwise you'll get a detention for being late" Charlie smiled as her sister kissed her on her cheek before running off down the road to school. Charlie pulled out her mobile phone and started to send a text message.

---

"So, Joey, was there anything in particular you wanted to speak to me about?" Dr Freedman asked as she handed Joey a mug of coffee, smiling when Joey thanked her for it.

"I don't even know where to start. My head is all over the place at the moment" Joey mumbled.

"Start from the first thought that comes to mind" Dr Freedman said as she opened Joey's file.

"I slept with Charlie last night" Joey blurted out.

"The same Charlie as we spoke about on Friday?" Dr Freedman asked, Joey nodded. " Okay. So is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"At first I thought it was a good thing, I mean, I've sort of been...into her recently, I mean I panicked at first, thinking that I had messed things up by kissing her, but then we had sex, really amazing sex" Joey grinned at the memories of her and Charlie. "But then her ex came around and said some things, and now it's pretty much a bad thing that we slept together"

"What did Charlie's ex say to make sleeping with Charlie a bad thing?"

"She just said a few home truths, you know. I'm troubled and I was only the rebound for Charlie" Joey said and hung her head down. "I'm always the rebound" She mumbled.

"Did Charlie actually say you were the rebound, Joey?" Dr Freedman asked.

"No she didn't, she doesn't know that I heard Paige say that to her" Joey said playing with her fingers as she kept her head down. "So I told her that I just wanted to be friends, I'm sick of always being used and hurt and thrown to the curb like I'm some piece of trash" Joey said angrily as she fought to keep the tears in her eyes from falling.

Dr Freedman wrote a few notes down in Joey's file. "What do you mean by that last sentence?"

"A bad experience with this girl I knew" Joey mumbled, a lone tear fell from her eye.

Dr Freedman nodded and placed a box of tissues on the table in front of Joey.

"She used to treat me like shit. I was 16 and had ran away from home, I stayed with her and her mates for 10 months, she treated me so bad, she gave me ultimatums, either I have sex with her or she would kick me out of her house. And at that time, I had no where else to go, so pretty much every night, I would have sex with her" Joey sat staring at the floor as tears streamed down her face. "She was a druggie, she used to get her friends to hold me down whilst she either forced drugs down my throat or injected me with them." Joey sniffed and scrunched her hand into a fist. "And then they would tie me up and sometimes slap me around and made me watch while they had sex in front of me." Joey paused. "I tried to leave several times, it got to the point where I didn't care if I slept on the streets, I couldn't stay there, but no, Emily never let me. She'd always catch me, every damn time I tried to escape, she was there stopping me, blocking off my exits, telling me I was too weak to leave, I couldn't survive out there on my own and that I was too pathetic for anyone else to want me, I was a waste of space. So I had to stay there with her and I was pretty much her bitch, I'd cook and clean for her, I'd have sex when she demanded, I was the one who had to face the drug dealers and give her money too...and on the off chance she didn't have any cash, I'd be the one who the dealers would beat up" Joey's fist was shaking from being squeezed too hard.

Dr Freedman stood up and sat down next to Joey, placing her hand over Joey's shaking fist. "Joey, Joey, its Dr Freedman" Joey sat staring at the ground. "Joey can you please speak to me" The Dr placed her hand under Joey's chin and moved it to face her. Joey had tears rolling down her face and a look of anger and fear on her face. "It's okay Joey, you're safe" Dr Freedman soothed as she ran her hand up Joey's back. Joey took a deep breath and started to sob as she leaned into her Doctor's shoulder.

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	25. Chapter 25

**Cheers for the fantastic reviews! =) **

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**Oniz197 - Not too long now! I figured out the perfect way for them to get together! =D**

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**Sorry this chapter ends a bit sudden...but I felt the next chapter would flow more if I ended this one where I did.**

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**MissToastie**

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**Chapter Twenty Five :**

Joey had spent the last twenty minutes calming herself down; she moved her head back from Dr Freedman's shoulder and blushed.

"I'm sorry about that"

"It's all good." Dr Freedman grabbed a few tissues from the box and handed them to Joey before standing up and taking a seat on her chair. "Joey, would you like to continue or would you prefer to make another appointment?"

Joey wiped her eyes, blew her nose and took a moment to think of the two options. "I'd like to continue now" Joey said with a small smile.

---

Charlie sat on a stool at The Diner's counter, chatting to Belle every time she wasn't rushed off her feet.

"So Ruby seems to think that Joey overheard what Paige had said and that's why she decided that the two of us should just be friends" Charlie said as she finished telling her best friend the events of last night and this morning, it only took 30 minutes.

"Sounds like Rubester is right" Belle said as she turned around to make Charlie her second cup of coffee. "Unless you were a dud in bed and Joey thought that telling you that the two of you would be better off as friends was an easy way of escaping a repeat performance" Belle grinned as she placed the coffee down on the counter.

"Ha ha, I highly doubt that!" Charlie paused "I swear it's hard to find someone to have a serious conversation with around here" Charlie frowned. "If it's not Ruby being cheeky, it's you or Aden and now conversations with Joey have turned into a laughing fest!" Charlie blew on her coffee and took a sip; moving her head back quickly and placing the cup back down on the saucer and breathed out. "It's friggen hot!"

"I'm sorry; did you order a cold coffee?" Belle laughed.

Charlie rolled her eyes and watched as Belle went to take the orders from the three customers who had approached the counter.

---

"So what happened to Emily?"

Joey took a deep breath and crossed her legs on the lounge chair. "One day I was out getting a few groceries as I had to make a meal for ten people, I came home and there was an ambulance van parked out the front of the house, I thought that there had been an argument between this couple who lived there, they'd always managed to get stoned off their face and beat the crap out of each other. As I entered the house, I saw Emily's older brother Shane sobbing over a body on the floor" Joey paused "It was Emily, apparently she over dosed on heroin. Shane tried to revive her, but he couldn't." Joey frowned "I've always been ashamed of this, but the moment I saw her lying there lifeless, I wasn't sad, I was actually happy that she was gone, it meant that I was finally free" Joey looked up at Dr Freedman "That makes me a bad person"

"It doesn't really make you a bad person Joey." Dr Freedman paused and smiled at the young girl sympathetically. "What Emily put you through was horrible, she tortured you and made you feel worthless and weak. You saw that she had died and you knew that you no longer would be forced to stay there and do all those things she forced you too. It doesn't make you a bad person for being happy that you were free, Joey, it's hard to be sad that someone has died when all that person did was put you through hell and treat you the way she treated you"

"I guess you're right" Joey nodded and thought back to what her Doctor had asked her earlier. "Charlie probably hates me for telling her we should only be friends"

"I doubt that Charlie hates you, Joey. She's probably confused and a little hurt"

"I should have told her what I overheard and gave her the chance to explain. Instead I didn't think and just told her what we had done was just a one time thing. I don't want it to be a one night thing. I really like her. I've never got along so well with anyone else like I have with Charlie, she's smart, beautiful, funny, kind and she makes me feel safe and wanted, I have never felt that. "Joey frowned."And now I've gone and made a date with Jenni. I don't even like Jenni like that."

"Is Jenni the young woman I saw talking to you in the waiting room? The new paramedic?"

Joey nodded.

"Why did you make a date with her when you have feelings for Charlie?" Dr Freedman asked as she wrote Jenni's name down in the file.

"I don't know" Joey mumbled. "I guess. I know that she likes me, so I knew she would say yes to a date, I just like that she makes me feel special, I don't understand why someone like Jenni would be interested in me"

"You seem quiet fond of her" Dr Freedman stated and watched as Joey yet again nodded. "She seems like someone you don't want to lose and I think that you using her would hurt her and you'd lose a friend"

"I'm not using her!"

Freedman gave Joey a stern look. "Because you like her in the sense to date her, right? And you wouldn't only be going out on this date with her because you hope she will make you forget about Charlie, right?"

Joey sighed. "I guess I am using her" She mumbled. "I don't want to use her. I don't want to lose her, she's a friend and they're something that don't come around that often, not for me anyway" Joey paused. "I should cancel the date, shouldn't I?" Joey asked.

"I personally think you should tell Jenni that it's not a date and explain to her what you just told me and then apologise and ask if the two of you could go out for a meal as two friends" Dr Freedman suggested.

"That sound's like a good idea" Joey smiled. "Thank you Dr Freedman"

---

"So when do you finish up here?" Charlie asked as Belle finished making coffee's for some customers and passing them to Colleen to take out.

"My last shift is tomorrow night." Belle frowned. "I'm going to miss this place, but it's time for a career change." Belle placed the empty milk bottle in the recycle bin underneath the counter. "I feel bad for leaving Leah and Roman in the lurch like this though"

"I'm sure they understand Belle, they're probably over the moon for you" Charlie smiled at her friend. "So does that mean there is a job going here?" Charlie asked as Leah walked out of the kitchen.

"Yeah it does, I'm just about to take the job notice down to the paper now" Leah smiled.

"I think I know someone who might very well be interested in taking the job"

"Ah yeah, you trying to get Ruby a job over the school holidays?" Belle laughed.

"No no, but that's a good idea" Charlie grinned. "No, I'm talking about Joey. She mentioned this morning that she was going to look for a job after her appointment today."

"Does she have any qualifications?" Leah asked.

"Err, I'm not too sure. I know she's good on a coffee machine and a really good cook and she carried the plates to Ruby and I the other night, and she didn't spill or break anything"

"Okay, well if you could ask her if she wants it, then that'd be great" Leah grinned and placed the job notice in her back pocket. "Just let me know by this afternoon in case she doesn't want it and I can take the notice to the papers for print tomorrow"

"Yeah, no worries" Charlie smiled as Leah walked off into the kitchen as Irene called out to her.

"Hopefully Joey will take the job" Belle said and looked up as Jenni walked in the doors behind Charlie. "Hey Jenni, how've you been?'

"Hey Belle, Charlie. I've been okay, flat out from work, I decided to pop in and grab a latte to go before I head home and catch a few z's until my dinner date tonight" Jenni grinned.

Belle turned around and began to make Jenni her latte.

"Dinner date? Oh, who's the lucky girl?" Charlie asked, making small talk. _It's nice to make new friends Charlie and Jenni seems like a good person. _Charlie told herself.

"Joey" Jenni simply replied. "She asked me this morning" Jenni said a little nervous as Charlie's face fell. _Oh shit, please don't hate me Charlie; I think we could be good friends. _Jenni thought.

"Oh" Charlie said sounding hurt. "Have a good night" Charlie smiled. _So Joey doesn't muck around. Ouch. Well she did tell you she wanted to be friends Charlie, its better then nothing, right? Right! _Charlie thought to herself.

"Thank you" Jenni smiled at Charlie and took the latte from Belle as she handed it to her "And thank you! Three fifty?" Jenni asked and Belle nodded with a smile. "Thanks' Belle, I'll see you two later, bye" Jenni said as she left The Diner.

"Argh!" Charlie said as she hit her head down on the counter top. "Sucks!" Charlie sulked.

"That'll teach you to be a dud" Belle said patting Charlie on the head. She knew full well that Charlie and Joey would end up together one day, and until then, she was going to tease Charlie as much as she could.

"I hate you" Charlie mumbled.

"I hate you too" Belle laughed and placed a kiss on the back of Charlie's head then continued serving customers.

---

Joey walked out of the hospital and down the road, it had been a long emotionally draining morning and Joey felt like she deserved a big reward in the form of a large milkshake and a big piece of cake. She headed in the way of The Diner and felt her mobile phone vibrate; she pulled it out her pocket. **Three New Messages. **She opened her phone and read the newly received one.

**'Hey Jo, I'm bored. Come keep me entertained before I kill someone. Bring junk food. Good friend." **

Joey laughed as she read the message and hit the reply button.

**'Aww poor Aden! I'll be there in 15. Loads of junk food on the way. J x" **

Joey sent the message and went to read the second message, it was from Charlie.

**'Leah is looking 4 a new waitress as of Wed. If u r interested, let her know. x" **

_Oh! Excellent! That sounds like its right up my alley! I will ask Leah about it when I get to The Diner. _Joey thought to herself and went to read the other message as she saw that too was from Charlie.

**'Joey, we really need to talk, I think there's been a big misunderstanding. I hope the appointment with Dr Freedman goes well. Let me know when u want 2 talk. I have work from 10 til 6. Free after that. xx'**

Joey looked confused and pressed the reply button.

**'Okay, will let you know. Am a bit worried. Hope everythings okay between us? C u after work. Oh & thnx for the info about the job, fingers crossed! J x' **

Joey sent the message and began to write a new one. **'Hey Jen, really need to speak with u, preferably b4 dinner, give me a text when I can pop around. It's important. Sleep well J x' **

Joey looked up as she entered The Diner. It was just after 10am. "Hey Belle" Joey smiled as she walked to the counter. "How are you?"

"Joey, hi! Yeah not too bad, bit rushed off my feet this morning though" Belle paused and placed money in the till and handed the change back to the customer. "Did you get Charlie's text about the job offer?"

"Yeah I did, is Leah about?" Joey asked. "Yeah, she's in the kitchen, go on through" Belle said nodding her head toward the kitchen and smiled as Joey walked past her.

"Oh hey Joey! Are you here about the job?" Leah asked.

"Yeah I am, Charlie texted me and told me about it" Joey smiled and watched as Leah continued to prepare food.

"Yes well as you know, Belle is leaving and we need a new waitress, you know someone to take the orders, make the coffees, normal waitressy stuff" Leah spoke quickly.

"I know how to do all that; I worked in a cafe for just over a year. I know how to work a till as well" Joey smiled.

"Really?! That's fantastic news Joey! I'll speak to Roman and Irene about it but I'm certain they'll be fine with you starting!" Leah grinned and turned around, placing some meat in the oven.

"Thank you Leah! I'll let you get back to work" Joey smiled and wove goodbye to Leah. "Hey Belle, can I have two milkshakes to go and a mud cake please"

"Yeah sure, what flavour milkshakes?" Belle asked as she got the two containers out.

"Um, I'll have a strawberry and whatever Aden likes, I'm heading over to your place now, Aden texted me and said he was bored and told me to come around with junk food" Joey laughed.

"Ah that'll be right" Belle laughed. "So Banana milkshake for my main man" Belle started to get the milkshakes ready. "So I hear you've got a date tonight?"

Joey looked at Belle with a confused look. "How did you know that?"

"Jenni came in and told Charlie and I this morning"

"Charlie knows?" Joey asked. "Ah yeah, it's not really a date though. We're just two friends going out for a meal" Joey smiled and took a sip of her milkshake that Belle had placed on the counter. "Mmm yum."

"Oh okay then" Belle smiled. "So are you taking the job here?" Belle asked.

"Yeah, I mean if it's okay with Irene and Roman, then definitely!" Joey grinned hoping that it would be okay with the two as she really liked the idea of working at The Diner. The staff seemed friendly and everyone in Summer Bay seemed to go there at least once a day, it would be a good way to make new friends.

"They'll be fine with it! They'd be happy to have you on board" Belle smiled and handed her boyfriends milkshake to her and excused herself to the back of the kitchen to get a fresh mud cake. "The milkshakes are on the house but I'm afraid I have to charge you for the cake, we get them specially made" Belle smiled.

"Wow, thanks' Belle. Are you sure about the milkshakes though?" Joey asked and handed Belle the money for the cake.

"Positive! Have fun and tell Aden that I love him" Belle grinned and laughed as Joey rolled her eyes and left The Diner.

**http://www .cosmopolitan. com. au /funfearlessfemale. htm**

**(without the spaces)**

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	26. Chapter 26

**I had crap all inspiration to go on from where the last chapter ended, so I've skipped a few months. =/.**

**Hope you're all okay with that decision. **

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**Thank you for the reviews. **

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**Please let me know if you're still interested in this story continuing. **

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**MissToastie.**

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**Chapter Twenty Six :**

**Four months later...**

It was Friday afternoon and Ruby was sat in her English class, she wasn't really focused on what Mr Copeland was saying, she had a lot on her mind and English was far from it. Today was her seventeenth birthday and tonight was her party, Joey had hired Alf's boat for the night and was taking Ruby and her closest friends out for a cruise around the sea before taking them to a beautiful isolated island where they would camp for the night and spend all day Saturday.

Mr Copeland turned around and began to write on the blackboard.

"Rubes, do you know who's coming tonight?" Xavier whispered to his girlfriend of almost two years.

"The usual" Ruby whispered back and smiled. Xavier nodded and kissed Ruby on her cheek and started writing down what was on the board, knowing that when Ruby had said 'The usual' it meant Nicole, Indigo, Jai, Geoff, Nicole's boyfriend of 2 months Ryan and his younger brother Chad. And of course Charlie, Joey, Belle, Aden, Jenni, Jenni's 'crush' Melissa, Leah, Roman, Miles and Kirsty.

---

Charlie had just finished her shift and was heading home to get ready for the party that night. Things had been going really well for her lately, she and Joey were getting closer each day, Ruby was well behaved, apart from her cheekiness and everything was going well at work. No one was home when Charlie arrived, Ruby was still at school for another 25 minutes and Joey's shift at The Diner didn't finish until five. She walked upstairs and into her bedroom, sitting on the bed as she unlaced her work boots, she looked at a photo frame on her bedside table, it was taken three months ago, the photo was of Joey, Ruby, Nicole and herself, all grinning at Nicole's 18th birthday party. That night had been one to remember, Charlie and Joey had spent the entire night dancing and chatting away, before heading home and having sex on the lounge room floor then being woken the next morning by Ruby screaming several 'Ewwwwww's' as she had walked in to see the two sleeping girls lying butt naked. Charlie laughed at the memory and went to take a shower.

---

"Hey you! All set for the party tonight?" Joey asked as Jenni approached the counter at The Diner. The two of them had become really good friends over the last four months, which Joey was thankful of, she thought back to that day when she had asked her out for a dinner date and then told Jenni that it wasn't actually a date, that she wasn't interested in Jenni like that and then continued to apologise. Jenni had laughed and told Joey that she thought as much and knew that Joey had her eye on someone else. The two of them still went out for a meal and sat getting to know each other on a friendship level and Jenni had managed to get Joey to open up to her about how she really felt about Charlie.

"I most definitely am! I can't wait, it will be great to sit down, have a few drinks and relax!" Jenni grinned at her friend. It had taken her a few weeks to get over her crush on Joey, but when she finally did, she realised she had made a good friend in her. Jenni had now settled in, in Summer Bay and was making new friends all the time, she had a close friend in Kirsty Philips and she had a major thing for Kirsty's friend from University, Melissa Jacobs, a tall, shy, blonde girl with gorgeous brown eyes and the cheekiest of personalities.

"Great!" Joey grinned and started to make Jenni's usual coffee. "Kirsty came in earlier and confirmed that Mel is coming tonight" Joey saw as Jenni's smile widened at the mention of Mel's name. "Jen, it really hurts me to see the way you react when anyone mentions her name. I don't want you to get hurt!"

"I'm not going to get hurt Jo! I'm being a good friend to Mel and comforting her" Jenni paused and smiled. "And if something happens between us, then so be it!"

"Are you forgetting that you are 'comforting' her because her BOYFRIEND just broke up with her? And that nothing is going to happen because, hmm, I dunno, SHE'S STRAIGHT?!" Joey said handing Jenni her coffee and taking the money and placing it in the register.

"Everyone's straight until they're not" Jenni winked and hurried out of The Diner.

Joey sighed, shook her head and went to clear some tables.

---

"So what are you wearing tonight?" Nicole asked as she and Ruby walked inside Charlie's house.

"This gorgeous LBD that Charlz gave to me this morning and possibly those black strappy shoes I love of yours" Ruby said batting her eyes at her best friend.

Nicole rolled her eyes and laughed. "Sure thing, but only because it's your birthday!"

"That doesn't mean they have to come off at midnight, do they?!"

"You're not Cinderella Ruby, so no" Nicole smiled as they made their way upstairs.

"I'm better than Cinderella! I'm Rubyrella" Ruby paused outside Charlie's bedroom door. "And Rubyrella has one BEAUTIFUL, LOVING, CARING, GENEROUS sister, the best sister in the whole entire world!"

"What do you want Ruby?" Charlie shouted from inside her room.

"She knows me too well!" Ruby said grinning and placing her hand on the door knob. "You got your bits away?"

"Yes, come in!" Charlie shouted once again.

Ruby and Nicole entered Charlie's room.

"Whoa Sis, you look beautiful!" Ruby said grinning at her older sister who stood wearing a gorgeous thin strap yellow dress that stopped just above the knee, black high heels and her hair was down and curled.

"Yeah, if Joey doesn't want a piece of you wearing that, I'm sure someone else might" Nicole smiled. "Turn the straight girls in to gay girls"

"Oh yeah?" Ruby asked her friend, raising her eyebrow.

"Yeah! Not me of course, I mean, no offence Charlie, as beautiful as you are, I'm all Ry's" Nicole beamed and looked dreamy.

"None taken" Charlie laughed at the loved up teenager. She was happy for her. Nicole had been dating Charlie's new junior constable Ryan Gentle for a few months now. "How are things between you and Ryan?"

"Oh jesus Charlie, don't get her started on officer Gentle" Ruby rolled her eyes and received a small punch in the arm from Nicole.

"Things are actually going really well thanks Charlz. Now that Dad has calmed down and accepted that we're dating, that is" Nicole smiled and thought back to how Roman hadn't approved of his eighteen year old daughter dating someone older than she is, even though the age difference was only three years. Leah had talked him around and made him notice how happier Nic had been since she started seeing Ryan.

"Good to hear" Charlie smiled and then turned her attention to the young Buckton and raised her eyebrow. "Anyway, what did you want little miss?"

"I was wondering if everyone could have some alcohol tonight" Ruby smiled innocently.

"Ah, Narh" Charlie stated simply.

"Please Chucky Cheese!" Ruby pouted.

"Nope, I'm sorry, do you not remember your sixteenth?! Several people got drunk and the night ended in disasters and I'm not waking up to you vomiting all over the place again!"

"Just one Charlie! You can be the one to pour everyone a glass of champers" Ruby's innocent smile was still on her face.

"Okay, Okay! ONE glass each!" Charlie said, giving in. "What about the 18s and above, what are you drinking?" Charlie asked Nicole.

"I'm not drinking, I've got a job interview in the morning and I don't want to stuff it up by going in hung-over!" Nicole smiled, she was really hoping to get the job, it was at a fashion shop in Yabbie Creek. "And I'm not sure about anyone else; I know bible boy and Indi aren't drinking. Geoff doesn't drink during footy season and since Indi not long got out of rehab, she won't be drinking"

"Alright so that's settled then" Ruby grinned. "I'm going to get ready at Nic's, so I'll see you at the wharf around quarter past five" Ruby gave her older sister a kiss on the cheek and she and Nicole made their way to Leah and Roman's house.

---

Charlie was sat on her bed reading a novel when she heard the front door slam shut; she looked at her watch and saw it was 5:02. Sliding off her bed, she opened her bedroom door just as Joey walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

"Ruby wants us to meet her in 10 minutes, is that enough time for you to get ready?" Charlie asked outside the door.

"Yeah, that's plenty of time; I'm only having a really quick shower, not washing my hair." Joey yelled through the door and turned the shower on. "Where's the shower cap?"

"It's in the bottom draw, Ruby decided to clear the first draw out for her make-up and then shifted everything else around in there." Charlie yelled back. "I'll be down stairs when you're ready to go"

"Right-o" Joey called out and hopped into the shower.

10 minutes later Joey ran down stairs, she was wearing her new pair of black jeans, a bright yellow singlet with a black jacket over the top, complete with her black converse high-tops and her hair down and straightened.

"You look absolutely gorgeous!" Charlie beamed as Joey made her way into the kitchen.

Joey looked up and swallowed hard. _Wow. _She thought to herself. "You look incredible" Joey said staring at the beautiful brunette standing in front of her.

Charlie grinned and picked up her handbag. "You ready to go?" Charlie asked Joey, who continued to stare at her.

"Err, yeah, lets go" Joey snapped out of it and moved towards the back door.

Charlie caught the smell of Joey's perfume as she walked past. _That smell, yum! My favourite smell in the world. It's intoxicating. _Charlie grinned and closed and locked the door.

---

"Hey birthday girl!" Joey smiled and hugged Ruby as she reached her on the Wharf. "You look gorgeous! That dress really suits you!" Joey turns and smiles at Charlie. "Nice choice Charlz!"

"Thank you" Both Buckton sisters spoke in unison.

Charlie and Joey said their hello's to Nicole, Ryan, Xavier, Leah and Roman and were about to hop on the boat when they saw everyone else who was coming on the trip walking down the wharf. Once everyone had greeted one another, they stepped onto the boat, the 'adults' were asked to sit inside the boat whilst the 'teens' were to sit out on the deck. With Joey driving, all eighteen people were sitting around talking as they sailed off into the sunset, waiting to arrive at their destination.


	27. Chapter 27

**Hey everyone!**

**I am so so so so so so so sorry that it has taken me almost two weeks to update this story, I truly feel bad and I apologise!**

**I've had a rough couple of weeks and I haven't been in the right head space to be sat down writing, unless I wanted this chapter to come out **

**really shit, not making any sense and be totally dark. And that's not the way any of us want this chapter to go!**

**--**

**I hope my loyal readers and my fantastically loyal reviewers are still with me and that you forgive me for such a long period of time with no updates.**

**Chapter twenty eight (Which, btw, is so my favourite chapter so far! It was so much fun to write and full of 'YEY'! I was so excited to write it!) **

**will be posted up within the next twenty-four-hours, if it is wanted that is! And I promise that it will definitely be up, the only way it wont be up is if **

**FF is down.**

**---**

**Let me know your thoughts about this chapter, positive or negative, I can take it. I'm a big girl. It honestly doesn't take long to post a review, it's so easy, and you don't even have to be a member! I accept anonymous reviews! Seriously, reviewing stories gives the writers such a thrill to know that you are interested in the story! I mean if you really enjoy the story, why not take that small amount of time and say you like the story! Even if it's just to say that "I like the story" How hard is it to say that? You can even copy and paste where I have just said it and review with that :P or if you don't like the story, then just add the don't. =). **

**It makes us writers feel like there is a point for us to write chapters, especially if you comment with your ideas of where you would like to see the story go! Because you never know, your idea may get written in and the story could turn out like you want it to! **

**---**

**Thank you all once again for the amazing reviews! I'm glad I had no negative feedback from the skipping of four months. **

**And sorry for the confusion, Charlie and Joey are not together, yet. It was just another one night stand. **

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**Enjoy this chapter, and I again apologise for the lateness of it!**

**But the next two chapters are long ones :O so yey?!**

**---**

**MissToastie**

**ps ; I'd just like to say a big thank you to purplemonkeyys ; you've been a great big massive inspiration and motivator over the last few weeks, and I thank you so so much that. So much. =) xx**

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**Chapter Twenty Seven :**

"So you two, when's the big day?" Roman asked before he took a mouthful of beer.

Aden and Belle looked at each other; both smiles were as big as one another. Two months ago Aden hired a boat for the weekend and treated Belle to a beautiful weekend of peace and relaxation, and on their second night away from The Bay, he got down on one knee and asked the love of his life if she would do him the honour of becoming his wife; she of course said yes.

"We were thinking of a November wedding" Belle said as the smile on her face grew bigger. "Just something small and outdoors with our closest friends and family."

"Aw, that sounds really lovely guys" Leah grinned and took Belle's hand in hers. "That seriously is the most beautiful ring I've ever seen" Leah said as she admired the diamond ring on Belle's engagement finger.

"So Aden, who helped you pick it?" Roman asked with a cheeky grin on his face and looked up at Charlie, who was sitting on a plastic chair next to Joey, who was steering the boat.

Aden followed Roman's eyes up to Charlie. "I'll have you know I picked it out myself, thank you. The only help I got from Charlie was when I asked her if she thought Belle would like it"

"Well you certainly know what your girl loves" Belle said and leaned in to kiss Aden on the lips.

Leah and Roman smiled at each other, stood up and walked out to the front end of the boat to join Miles, Kirsty, Melissa and Jenni.

Belle pulled away from Aden and looked up at Charlie who was letting her eyes wonder up and down Joey's body.

"C'mon babe, let's join the others" Belle said to Aden and looked over to Charlie and gave her a 'I know what you're thinking about' look, Charlie blushed and took a sip of her wine, she was embarrassed she had been caught undressing Joey with her eyes.

The happy couple left to go outside, leaving Charlie and Joey alone.

---

"Hey Ruby" Eleven year old Chad began. "Are Charlie and Joey together?"

"No" Ruby sighed. "I wish they would get their act together already, it's frustrating living with them, you can feel the sexual tension as soon as the two of them are in the same room, and they do this thing which they think that nobody can notice, they practically undress one another with their eyes when the other one isn't looking, and it get's to the point where they turn red from their thoughts! It's so, so clear what they are thinking!"

"Gross!" Chad said as he scrunched up his face.

"Maybe they need someone to help them along?" Ryan said as he sat with his arms around Nicole, leaning his chin on her head. "To push the two of them together"

"I've tried getting them together, really I have!" Ruby said with frustration. "The only thing I've not done is _literally_ push the two of them together!"

"All good things take time" Nicole stated.

"At this rate they'll admit they're into each other on their death beds!" Ruby grumbled.

"Oh lighten up, it's your birthday! Don't worry about Charlie and Joey, just have fun!" Nicole said kicking Ruby in the leg gently.

---

"Enjoying yourself?" Charlie asked Joey, breaking the silence.

"Yeah!" Joey turned her head and grinned. "I've really missed being out at sea; it's the most beautiful peaceful place"

"It is lovely" Charlie agreed. "So are you looking forward to tomorrow night?"

"Absolutely! It should be a great night. It's such a lovely and kind idea from Colleen!" Joey grinned, Colleen had organised everyone in the town to be at The Surf Club at 7:30 Saturday for a Karaoke night to raise money for Childhood Cancer research and Joey was so excited and so so proud that Summer Bay were doing something to raise money for such a worthy cause.

"Yeah it totally is" Charlie took a sip of her white wine. "So what are you singing?"

Joey looked at Charlie and laughed. "Err nothing! I can't sing! I shall be sitting in the crowd cheering everyone else along! It's the best I can do! But if tomorrow night goes well, Colleen mentioned something about putting together a dance competition to continue to raise money for the organisation, so I'll definitely contribute to that!" Joey grinned.

"Oh, a bit of a dancer are we?" Charlie asked raising her eyebrow.

"Oh you bet I am! I'm self trained in hip hop, I represented my school several times when I was 14 and I won first place in the worlds biggest dance off and was offered a scholarship at this phenomenal dance school in New York, but my parents wouldn't agree to it, so I missed out" Joey's grin had faded to a frown, she continued looking ahead.

"I'm sorry to hear that Joey, truly, I am" Charlie said standing up behind her beautiful friend, she placed her arms around Joey's waist and placed her head on her shoulder, hugging Joey from behind.

"Thank you" Joey whispered, enjoying the feeling of Charlie behind her, she could feel her breasts pressed against her back, a smile crept on Joey's face, she blushed and continued to steer the boat in the direction of the destination that was now very much in eye sight.

"I hope the dance competition goes ahead, I can't wait to see you dance" Charlie grinned.

"I can't wait to show you" Joey replied. "We're almost there"

Charlie removed herself from Joey, both girls immediately missing the contact, and looked out at the beach ahead that was lit up with fairy lights and two large backyard tents with a few tables set up under them.

"Oh my god! Is that for me?!" Ruby asked as she ran into where Joey and Charlie were standing.

"Yep!" Joey grinned and turned the motor off. Charlie stood looking at Joey with a confused look on her face. "Ade, Belle, Roman and I came out here on our lunch break and set everything up"

"Took forever to set up, but it looks fantastic!" Aden said as he walked up behind Ruby, with Belle in his arms.

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!" Ruby squealed as she hugged Aden, then Belle and then made her way to Roman who had just walked into the room, and then she walked over to Joey and hugged her very tightly.

"It's fine Ruby! It was your boyfriend's idea anyway" Joey said to Ruby as she pulled back from the hug, nodding her head toward Xavier who had just walked in.

"Are you serious? This was all your idea?" Ruby asked Xavier, who nodded. Ruby walked over to him and kissed him passionately in front of everyone. She pulled back from the kiss and looked into his eyes "I love you Xaves".

"I love you too Rubes" Xavier grinned, pleased his girlfriend liked his idea.

"Alright lovey doves, let's get this party started!"

---

11:30pm came around super quick, the party was well under way, people were either dancing, eating or sitting around having a drink and a chat. The music was loud and the company was delightful. Ruby's 17th birthday was going to be one to remember.

"Having a good night?" Charlie asked as she walked up behind her sister who was standing with her best friend.

"Absolutely! Thank you so much Charlz" Ruby said hugging her sister tightly. "I love you so much sis"

"I love you too Rubyroo." Charlie grinned as they pulled out from their hug.

"Yeah, the party is wild as, it's nice to sit around and celebrate with your closest friends and family" Nicole smiled.

"Yeah it really is" Charlie agreed. "Oh, Nicole, before I forget, what time is your interview tomorrow?"

"It's at ten thirty, Aden's taking a group of us back to the Bay, then coming back here to help pack up"

"Oh okay! That's brilliant, I'm glad it's all organised" Charlie smiled. "I'll leave you two to it then" Charlie said before walking off and over to where Joey was now sat alone, only moments ago, Aden and Belle had been keeping her company.

"Where'd they go?" Charlie asked, referring to Aden and Belle.

"Apparently, they've never had sex out in the middle of an isolated island" Joey said with a laugh as Charlie rolled her eyes. "Is Ruby enjoying herself?"

"Yeah, she really is. Thank you so much for offering to have the party here, Ruby loves it, I love seeing her happy" Charlie smiled.

"It's fine Charlie, Ruby's a great girl, she totally deserves all this." Joey said placing her hand on Charlie's arm, a touch that sent a tingling sensation through the bodies of both of the girls; they looked into each others eyes and smiled.

"I swear you're the only person that can touch me and make me feel this way" Charlie spoke her thoughts, without realising she was doing so until the sentence was out. "Ah, sorry" Charlie said, blushing.

"Don't apologise" Joey paused. "I swear you're the only person that makes me feel this way too" Joey leaned in and kissed Charlie softly on her mouth.

---

Xavier stood looking over at his girlfriend talking and laughing with her three closest friends, his heart was pounding very fast, his hands were clammy and his body was shaking, he had never felt so nervous in all his life.

_You can do this Austin, it's now or never, it has to happen tonight, it's the perfect night for it. Just go and ask her. The worst thing she can do is say no, and if that happens, it's not the end of the world; you know it will come around eventually! _ Xavier shook his confused thoughts from his head, took a deep breath and walked in the direction of Ruby and her friends.

"Ruby, can we talk in private please" Xavier nervously asked.

Ruby smiled and excused herself from Nicole, Geoff and Indi.

"What's up Xaves? You look nervous!" Ruby said to her boyfriend as they walked away from everyone on the beach.

"I am nervous" Xavier said as he and Ruby sat down on a huge rock, he held Ruby's hand in his and affectionately stoked his thumb across her knuckles. "I'm sorry this is going to sound so confusing and all over the place, but I'm just going to go with whatever comes out of my mouth, I had it all planned, I wrote it all down, but I totally forgot" Xavier said, looking down at the sand then back up to his girl, who was sat smiling lovingly at him.

Xavier intertwined his fingers with Ruby's. "From the moment I met you, I knew you were special, I knew you were that special one that was going to make my life complete, that was going to change me for the better, that was going to make me feel worthy. You're the only one I've ever been able to open up to about anything, you're always there to listen when I need someone to talk to, you're great with Brendan, I've never had any friend or girlfriend who took the time to understand him like you have done, I feel like you actually want to get to know him." Xavier paused once again. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you, I want us to go through the rest of our lives together, every up and down and every twist and turn that happens in life, I want you to be the one I get through them with. You make me so happy Ruby, and I hope I make you as happy as you make me" Xavier stood up and kneeled down on one knee in front of Ruby, who sat staring at her boyfriend with tears forming in her eyes. "I love you so much Ruby Buckton, I always have and I always will, I know we're only seventeen, but everything feels so right between us, everything about us screams that we are going to be together forever" Xavier opened the little blue box he held in his hand and faced it toward Ruby. "Ruby, will you marry me?"

Ruby broke down in tears. "Of course I will marry you Xaves!" Ruby said before jumping forward and hugging her new fiancé. "I love you so much Xavier Austin, so very much"

"I love you too Ruby" Xavier said as he spun his fiancé around in the air before placing her down on the sand, holding her shaking hand, he slipped a beautiful ring on her finger. "It fits" He grinned.

"Perfectly" Ruby smiled and kissed Xavier passionately. This night, truly was the best night of Ruby's life.

---

An hour later, it was getting late and everyone seemed to be getting tired. Xavier and Ruby asked for everyone to stand under one of the large tents, ready to make an announcement.

"Okay, I don't really know how to say this" Xavier started and looked around at everyone.

"Xavier asked me to marry him and I said yes" Ruby grinned and held out her left hand, showing the ring on her finger.

"OH MY GOD!" Nicole and Indi screamed and ran up to hug their friend. Miles and Roman who were standing closest to Xavier congratulated him.

Charlie stood watching her little sister jump up and down with two of her closest friends. A part of her was happy for her sister, extremely happy, but the other part, a very small part screamed that she was way too young to be engaged.

Belle was grinning from hearing the youngest Buckton's news, she looked over at her best friend and knew what she was thinking, she walked over toward her.

"She's young, but she knows what she is doing Charlie. I doubt very much that she's going to rush off and get married tomorrow. This is Ruby, she's the most mature seventeen year old that I've ever known!" Belle smiled and placed her hands on Charlie's arms.

"Belle's right Charlie, Ruby won't charge in to marriage like a bull at a gate" Joey said agreeing with Belle, she placed her hand on Charlie's lower back.

"I know, you're right." Charlie said smiling between her best friend and Joey, she excused herself and walked over to her baby sister and her fiancé.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you separately Charlie" Ruby said, she was panicking; she didn't know how her sister would act.

"That's fine Ruby! You were excited and wanted to tell everyone, I totally understand that" Charlie said and gathered Ruby in her arms for a hug. "Congratulations Ruby, I'm so happy for you, so utterly and completely happy" Charlie felt a tear falling down her face as she heard Ruby crying into her arms, she placed a kiss on top of her head.

"Thank you so much Charlz!" Ruby said as she moved back from Charlie's arms and wiped her eyes.

Charlie turned to Xavier. "Congratulations Xavier" Charlie smiled "If you hurt her, I will hurt you a thousand times more" Charlie simply said. She wasn't joking.

Xavier nodded and smiled. "I won't hurt her Charlie, I promise. I love her and I want to spend the rest of my life making her happy"

"Good" Charlie smiled and hugged Xavier.

"So, when are you getting married?" Chad asked.

"Err, not for quiet a while Chad, we decided to wait until we finish Uni to get married" Ruby said smiling at the young boy.

"Thank god" Charlie mumbled and looked over at Belle and Joey, who were once again right.

The night continued on with congratulations all around for the happy couple and soon everyone fell asleep after what was a fun and very memorable night.


	28. Chapter 28

**Thank you all for the amazing reviews! I was going to wait until tomorrow to post this chapter, but I thought**

**seems as though there was almost 14 days of wait between chapters 26 and 27, I thought I'd be nice and post this**

**one up now =). **

**--**

**Yeaah...Ruby and Xavier's engagement came as a bit of a shock to me too =/ I wrote it today and was like**

**"oh okay, I'll just go with that" haha. **

**-**

**AuthorW : Things are slightly looking up, thank you =). **

**-**

**Purplemonkeyys - Thanks hun! Seriously, right back at you! xxx**

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**Anyway! I hope you all enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! Review and let me know! K? Thanks! :)**

**---**

**MissToastie**

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**Chapter Twenty Eight :**

It was late Saturday afternoon and everyone was due to meet at The Surf Club around 7:30. Charlie was stood inside her walk-in closet looking through her clothes, trying to find the

perfect outfit for the night, She always made an effort to look good, but tonight she wanted to make herself look like a million dollars, she wanted to impress the woman that she had shared a sweet, loving, electrifying moment with several hours before.

"God damnit!" Charlie growled. "Where the hell are you?!" Charlie said as she flicked through her dress rack. "I swear if Ruby has had her grubby little hands on it, I will kill her!" Charlie mumbled. "Ah-Ha!" Charlie grinned as she found the dress she had been looking for. "Perfection!" Charlie placed the dress flat out on her bed, taking one last look at it before heading back to the little room where she had just came from. "Red shoes!" Charlie nodded and looked at the piles and piles of shoes at the back of the closet. "Oh this should be fun" Charlie said as she rolled her eyes and sat on the floor in search of her favourite red high heels.

"Chaaaaarlie" Ruby yelled out as she knocked on the door. "Can I come in please?" Ruby waited for her sister to respond, on hearing Charlie say 'yes', she opened the door and looked around her sisters room. "Where are you?" Ruby asked with a confused look on her face.

"I'm in the closet" Charlie yelled out.

_Oh, how can I not? _Ruby thought to herself. "Ah, love, you came out the closet quiet a few years ago" Ruby grinned.

"Ha ha, that'd be funny, except it's not" Charlie yelled once again.

"I thought it was funny" Ruby smiled and entered the closet. "Whatcha doin'?" Ruby asked as she saw her sister looking through her shoes.

"I'm making a club sandwich Ruby, would you like one?" Charlie spoke sarcastically and looked up at the youngest Buckton. "What does it bloody look like I'm doing?"

"Okay okay, calm down!" Ruby said as she sat down on her knees next to Charlie. "What shoes are you looking for?"

"My red ones" Charlie mumbled as she continued to look for her shoes.

"Your red ones" Ruby nodded. "Don't give too much away now sis, I should be able to find them with that teeny weeny bit of information!" Ruby rolled her eyes and looked through the pile of shoes next to her.

"They're the ones I wore to Kirsty's birthday party" Charlie mumbled. "Maybe this would be easy if I didn't have so many damn shoes! It's ridiculous, I shouldn't have this many shoes! I've only got two feet!" Charlie groaned.

"I'm sorry? Did you just say you shouldn't have so many shoes? Charlie that's crazy talk! You need to see someone about that, that is a sentence I should have never heard you say!"

"You really can be a little over dramatic at times, can't you?" Charlie turned her head and raised her eyebrow at her younger sister, who in return poked her tongue out and continued to look through the shoes. Charlie let out a small laugh and she too continued looking for her favourite red shoes.

---

"So what are you singing tonight?" Joey asked Aden as he entered his lounge room.

"Under the boardwalk" Aden grinned. "It's been my favourite song since I was a little tacker"

"Oh I love that song! I always used to picture myself in the lyrics, under the boardwalk on a blanket with my baby" Joey blushed at what she had just admited.

"You're not the only one! I still do" Aden paused. "So are you singing tonight?"

Joey laughed. "Ah, no. I'm not one to sing. I can't sing to save myself and I have massive stage fright, so I'll be sat in the crowd cheering everyone along" Joey smiled.

"Right" Aden nodded. "Don't suppose you know who else is singing, do you?"

"Ah, all I know is you, Colleen, Roman, Leah, Miles and Charlie" Joey paused. "Shame Belle has to work tonight!"

"Yeah it is, she works every second Saturday night." Aden pouted. "You ready to head back to yours?" Aden asked and Joey nodded, the two got up and left his house, making their way to Charlie's.

---

"YES! YES! YES!" Charlie stood up and jumped up and down. "I found them, I FOUND THEM!" She yelled.

"Yeah Charlie, I found them" Ruby said standing up. "Don't take all the credit!"

"Oh I don't care, They've been found! They're the perfect shoes to go with my perfect dress!" Charlie said as she ran out of the closet and placed her favourite red stilletos on the bed next to her dress. "I think I might need a cardigan or a jacket to go with this" Charlie thought outloud.

"What about this?" Ruby asked as she held out a black leather jacket.

"Perfect!" Charlie said as she walked over and grabbed the jacket from her sister. "Thanking you!" Charlie placed it on the bed. "Right, now to shower and get ready"

"Hey Charlz" Ruby began.

"Ruby, you can wear anything you like, just don't ruin them!" Charlie said rolling her eyes, grabbing her towel and heading toward the shower, hearing Ruby squeal excitedly as she just heard that she had endless choices of what to wear tonight.

---

Thirty five minutes later, Charlie was stood in front of her body length mirror looking at her reflection, She was wearing a tight little black dress, it was strapless, not that you could tell as she had her black leather jacket on. She looked down at her favourite red shoes, it had taken quiet a while to find them, but it was well worth it, they complimented the dress well and made Charlie feel her outfit was complete. Looking back up at her face, she had lightly put on a bit of make-up, her eyes stood out and looked even more beautiful than usual with the eyeliner and mascara she was wearing and her lips were a lovely red colour. Her hair was down and straightened; she admired her new fringe that Ruby had not long cut.

---

Ruby walked downstairs to where Xavier, Aden and Joey were sat in the lounge room.

"How do I look?" Ruby asked as she twirled around.

Xavier stood up and admired how beautiful his fiance looked. She was wearing a gorgeous dark purple dress that stopped just shy of the knee, ankle high boots and her hair looked neat, yet still like a birds nest; which was just the way Xavier liked it.

"You look absolutely beautiful Ruby!" Xavier grinned and kissed Ruby on her lips.

"Yeah you look great Rubes!" Joey smiled. Joey was wearing a pair of dark denim jeans and a yellow halter neck shirt, her hair was pulled back in a hair tie and she wearing her favourite pair of shoes, her yellow all stars.

"Thank's Jo! As do you! Oh my god I really like your halter neck! I must borrow it sometime!" Ruby grinned and everyone laughed, they all knew she had a 'thing' for wearing everyones clothing. "And you Mr. Jefferies. You look rather handsome!" Ruby smiled at Aden who was wearing a pair of light denim jeans and a black buttoned up shirt, his hair was spiked. "Almost as handsome as my main man" Ruby grinned and kissed Xavier who wore a white t shirt with random drawings sprawled all over it and a pair of black jeans, his hair was scruffy, but it looked good.

"Cheers Ruby. So how long does it take your sister to get ready? We've got to be at The Surf Club in 15 minutes" Aden asked.

"I'll go check on her" Joey said smiling and exiting the lounge room to head upstairs.

---

Charlie stood at her dressing table and sprayed her new favourite perfume on each side of her neck, then squirted it on her left wrist and rubbed it together with her right wrist. She opened her jewellry box and placed a necklace around her neck, it was a silver diamond studded 'c'.

"You ready Charlz?" Joey asked with a knock on the door.

Charlie felt a million butterflies fluttering around in her stomach. She took one last glance at herself in the mirror, smiled and walked toward her door, she opened it and grinned at the beautiful site of Joey standing in front of her.

"Wow" Joey muttered.

"Wow yourself" Charlie said warmly, looking Joey up and down.

"Yo...you...look..wow" Joey said staring at Charlie. _ Wow. She looks, wow. _Joey thought.

Charlie laughed and stepped forward so she could close her bedroom door, she was standing right in front of Joey, close enough to be able to smell the beautiful smell of Joey's perfume, the one that made her weak at the knees every time she inhaled the intoxicating smell.

"You ready to go Jo?" Charlie asked as she looked into Joeys eyes.

"Ya-ha" Joey said without breaking eye contact from Charlie.

Before either of them knew what was happening, they both leaned in, they're lips inches away from one anothers.

"OI What's taking so long?!" Aden yelled from downstairs, making both girls snap their heads back.

"Ah yeah, we're coming" Joey yelled and turned away from Charlie, mouthing what seemed to be her favourite word 'Wow' and went downstairs, Charlie followed after her, admiring how cute her bottom looked in the jeans she wore.

---

It was now 9:30pm, The karaoke and fun had been going on for just on two hours, the night had started with Ryan singing Justin Timberlake's 'Sexy back', a song that much excited the crowd and his girlfriend Nicole. Miles then had his turn and sung 'Back For Good by Take Take' which was very much a crowd pleaser, no one knew he would be such a good singer. Colleen was next on stage and sang a quirky, horrible but somehow enjoyable version of ABBA's 'Mamma Mia' and then decided to do an encore with 'Respect' by Aretha Franklin, proving the be quiet the entertainer, she got help from the members of the audience, getting them to shout out some of the lyrics with her. Leah and Roman were making their way back to their table after just having sang their hearts out to 'Cruisin'' by Huey Lewis and Gwyneth Paltrow, the night was going really well, everyone was drinking (apart from the underage kids and Joey) and getting along well and now it was Aden's turn to get up and sing his all time favourite song.

"Right, now we've got young Aden Jefferies who is singing one of my all time favourite songs, so he better not mess it up!" Alf said as he got on the mic. Everyone applauded and waited for Aden to come on stage.

"Wish me luck" Aden said as she finished downing the last of his beer and making his way up to the stage.

"Luck" Charlie and Joey yelled in unison, they turned to each other and blushed. As per usual, the two had been stealing looks of one another everytime the other looked away.

Aden stood and whispered something into Alfs ear, who nodded and grabbed himself a spare microphone and sat on a stool next to where Aden stood.

"I've ah, asked my good friend Alf here to help me a little with this song, so yeah, here it goes" Aden said nervously.

(If you want to listen to this as you read, then head to Youtube /watch?v=zV6WgRAN9FU )

The music started and everyone started swaying in their seats.

"Oh when the sun beats down and burns the tar up on the roof. And your shoes get so hot you wish your tired feet were fire-proof. Under the boardwalk, down by the seeaa, yeaah, on a blanket with my baby is where I'll be" Aden sang along with the music, he was doing a really good job.

"Under the boardwalk" Alf sang deeply into the microphone.

"Out of the sun" Aden sang.

"Under the boardwalk" Alf sang again.

"We'll be having some fun"

"Under the boardwalk"

"People walking above"

"Under the boardwalk"

"We'll be falling in love."

"Under the boardwalk. Board-walk" The two of them sang deeply together.

The crowd were loving their rendition, which gave the two blokes even more courage to sing the sing.

"From the park you hear the happy sound of a carousel. Mm-mm, you can almost taste the hot dogs and French fries they sell, Under the boardwalk, down by the sea, yeah, On a blanket with my baby is where I'll be" Aden sang and swayed along with the music, clicking his fingers every now and then, in beat with the song.

"Under the boardwalk" Alf sang, raising his hands up, indicaiting he wanted the crowed to sing along next time.

"Out of the sun" Aden sang, grabbing the mic as he did.

"Under the boardwalk" The crowd sang, everyone making their voices go deep.

"We'll be havin' some fun" Aden grinned, he was truly enjoying himself. He looked down to see Joey and Charlie swaying together, laughing and singing along with Alf.

"Under the boardwalk" The crowd sang again.

"People walking above"

"Under the boardwalk"

"We'll be falling in love"

"Under the boardwalk. Board-walk" Everyone in The Surf Club sang along.

There was a break in the music, everyone sat swaying and watching as Aden got his croon on and clicked and danced to the music.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhh, under the boardwalk, down by the seaaaaa, yeaaaaah. On a blanket with my baby is where I'll be" Aden sang.

"Under the boardwalk" Alf sang.

"Out of the suuunnn"

"Under the boardwalk" Alf raised his hands again.

"We'll be havin' some fuuun"

"Under the boardwalk" The crowd joined in.

"People walking aboooovee" Aden clicked his fingers.

"Under the boardwalk"

"Oh we'll be falling in lo-ovee"

"Under the boardwalk, BOARD-WALK" The whole of The Surf Club was filled with everyone singing the last line, loudly.

Everyone stood up and cheered as Aden and Alf took a bow, Aden thanked everyone before making his way back to his seat, he had the biggest smile on his face.

"You didn't tell us you could sing!" Joey said grinning and handing Aden his beer.

"Ade, that was brilliant! I can't folllow on that!" Charlie said, she was really nervous to be up next, considering she didn't even have a song picked out.

"You'll be fine!" Aden reasurred.

"Aden's absolutely right, You'll be amazing" Joey smiled at Charlie, Charlie leaned in and gave her a kiss on her cheek and thanked her.

"Next we have the one and only Charlie Buckton, Police officer by...well, day and night, depending on her shift. Let's see if she has a future career in singing!" Alf said into the microphone as Charlie made her way up on stage. "Now she has a tough act to follow, if I do say so myself" Alf laughed. "No pressure" He smiled at Charlie and showed her the list of songs she could sing. Charlie's heart fluttered as she saw her favourite song written in bold letters. She pointed to it and told Alf she 'had' to sing it. The song had meaning, she always thought of Joey when she heard this song. Alf walked over to the karaoke machine and entered the digits of the song Charlie was going to sing.

"This is my all time favourite song, Now I'm not that good at hitting high notes like Celine is, but I'll give it a go!" Charlie said nervously as she looked out to the crowd, she grinned when she saw Joey smiling at her, she felt eased knowing that Joey was there and was being supportive.

(Once again if you want to listen to this beautiful amazing song ; /watch?v=CR3hg452VGc )

The music started and Charlie moved her mouth to the mic.

"I must be crazy now, Maybe I dream too much. But when I think of you, I long to feel your touch" Charlie sang and took a pause with the music, she closed her eyes. "To whisper in your ear, words that are old as time, worlds only you would hear, if only you were mine" Charlie opened her eyes and looked out at the crowd, she looked at Joey.

"I wish I could go back to the very first day I saw you. Should've made my move when you looked in my eyes. 'Cause by now I know that you'd feel the way that I do and I'd whisper these words as you lie here by my side" Charlie looked away and into the crowd. "I looove youuu, please say you love me too, these three words, they could change our lives forever and I promise that we will always be together, 'Til the end of time"

The crowd swayed along with Charlie's beautiful singing. Joey continued to stare at Charlie, she felt every word and they felt like they were being sung to her. Ruby grinned between Joey and her sister. _About time!!! _Ruby thought to herself.

"So today I finally find, the courage deep inside, just to walk right up to your door. But my body can't move when I finally get to it, just like a thousand times before." Charlie sang and continued to look to the crowd. "Then without a word he handed me this letter, read I hope this finds the way into your heart, it said" Charlie paused and began to sing the chorus again. "I love you, please say you love me too, these three words, they could change our lives forever, and I promise you that we will always be together, 'Til the end of time."

Charlie looked out at Joey who was still staring at her, neither of them breaking eye contact as Charlie sang.

"Well maybe I, I need a little love, yeah. And maybe I, I need a little care. And maybe I, maybe you, maybe you, maybe you oh you need somebody just to hold you, If you do, just reach out and I'll be there" Charlie grabbed the mic and found herself walking down the stairs and over to where Joey was sat, staring at her.

Charlie grabbed Joey's hand and held it in hers, she bent down and looked into her eyes.

"I looooove yoooou, please say you love me too, these three words, they could change our lives forever and I promise you that we will always be together" Charlie leaned forward, cupping Joey's face with her hand, Joey had tears in her eyes as she continued to stare at Charlie who was singing every single word to Joey. "Ohhh, I love you. Babe I love you. Please say you love me too, please please say you love me too. My baby, together, together, forever 'til the end of time. I love you, I will be your light, shining bright, shining through your eyes, my baby" Charlie wiped a tear that fell down Joey's face. The music had stopped and everyone had their eyes on Charlie and Joey. "I love you" Charlie said sweetly into the microphone, tears had now built up in her eyes.

"I love you too" Joey softly managed to choke out, with tears streaming down her face, she leaned forward and kissed Charlie passionately. Everyone looked around at one another, smiling and started clapping, cheering that the two of their friends had finally got their act together.


	29. Chapter 29

**Okay, I'm a bad person, I know yet again that it has been forever since I've updated. I apologise. **

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**Good thing is after Wednesday I have a 20 day holiday *cheers*.**

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**I'm sorry for the shortness/crapness/the end of this chapter. **

**I was in a rush to get something posted up, and this is what's come out. **

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**Thank you so much for the amazing reviews, I really enjoyed writing the last chapter and I am glad it went down well with you lovely readers =).**

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**Hello to new readers and reviews! *waves* thank you =).**

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**MissToastie.**

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**Chapter Twenty Nine :**

After several moments, both girls pulled back from their kiss. Charlie had a huge grin on her face, whilst Joey looked shocked.

"Wow" Joey whispered.

"I'm beginning to think that's the only word you know" Charlie said with a small laugh.

"Is this really happening?" Joey asked. "Am I dreaming?"

"Unless we are having the same amazing dream, then this is really happening" Charlie spoke softly, tears were still present in both girls eyes.

"Aaah! I'm SO happy for you guys!" Ruby said as she quickly made her way from her side of the table to the girls. "I thought you were both going to be old and gray before you admitted your feelings for each other!" Ruby grinned and put her arms around both of the girls, hugging them tightly.

"Our feelings weren't that obvious were they?" Joey asked the young girl.

"Are you kidding me?!" Ruby asked as she moved back from the hug. "They were about as obvious as someone running down the street wearing bright fluro pink clothing with big bright blue hair!"

Charlie and Joey looked at one another and laughed at the description the seventeen year old just gave them.

"C'mon Rubes, we're up next" Xavier called out to his fiancé; it was now their turn to get up on stage.

Ruby smiled at the girls and ran up on stage.

"So that last performance was a ripper!" Alf spoke into the microphone. The crowd cheered and clapped, a few wolf whistles were also heard. Charlie and Joey looked at one another and blushed. "Next we have a very young newly engaged couple, Ruby and Xavier. Let's see if the youngest Buckton can sing like her older sister." Alf laughed. "Everyone, please welcome, Ruby and Xavier"

Alf exited the stage as the crowd began to cheer as Ruby and Xavier moved to the microphone.

Xavier turned to his fiancé as the music began.

"You broke my heart, cause I couldn't dance" Xavier spoke in a really deep voice that made Ruby and the audience laugh. "You didn't even want me around. But now I'm back to show you I can really shake 'em down"

"Do you love me?" Xavier sang and danced to the music.

"I can really move" Ruby sang into the microphone.

"Do you love me?" Xavier sang.

"I'm in the groove" Ruby giggled.

"Do you love me?!"

"Do you love me?"

"Now that I can dance!" Xavier walked over to Ruby and grabbed her by the waist "Watch me now!"

"They seem to be having a lot of fun" Leah said, watching the young couple as they continued to sing.

"Absolutely! They're not doing a bad job either" Joey grinned and turned to Charlie. "Although, my ears are grateful that Xavier is doing most of the singing!" Joey laughed and pulled a face when Ruby screeched into the microphone.

"Oh leave Ruby alone! She's doing....Okay she can't help it if she can't sing!" Charlie laughed and took a long look at Joey. "We should go talk after they've finished" She suggested and held Joey's hand in hers.

"Sounds good" Joey smiled and both girls focussed their attention on the singing couple on stage.

Xavier and Ruby placed their microphones on the stands.

"Well I can mash potato" Xavier sang and did the actions to 'Mash potato'.

"I can mash potato" Ruby sang and copied Xavier's dance moves.

"I can do the twist"

"I can do the twist"

They both showed the crowd that they could indeed do the twist.

"Well do the funky funky chicken" Xavier sang and placed his hands under his armpits and flapped his arms like a chicken.

"Do the funky funky chicken!" Ruby laughed and once again copied Xavier's dance moves.

The singing and dancing continued for the remainder of the song, their singing wasn't all that good, but the crowd was still entertained. Once the song had finished, Xavier and Ruby moved off stage.

"Let's make a break for it" Charlie smiled, stood up and pulled Joey with her, not really giving the younger woman any chance.

"Where are they going? I want to ask them how I did!" Ruby said as she watched her sister and Joey leave the surf club.

"I think they've got a bit more to talk about other than your singing, Rubes" Nicole smiled up at her best friend.

---

After walking back home in a comfortable silence, they walked into the lounge room, sitting down next to each other on the lounge.

"Eventful night" Joey said, laughing nervously.

"Yeah" Charlie laughed, equalling Joey's nervousness. "I hadn't expected all of that to come out"

"Nor me" Joey smiled.

"I'm glad it did though" Both girls said in unison. They looked at each other and laughed.

"Do you really think our feelings were as obvious as everyone makes out?" Charlie asked.

"I think so, yes. Considering it was everyone who knew, not just a select few."

"Why didn't we know?" Charlie asked out loud; the question was for her just as much as it was for Joey.

"Because we are both as stubborn as one another" Joey sighed.

"True" Charlie agreed. "So, what are we going to do now?" Charlie asked as she turned her body to face Joey.

"Do you want to be with me?" Joey asked, smiling at Charlie.

"Absolutely" Charlie grinned. "Do you want to be with me?"

Joey laughed. "I certainly do"

"So I guess that means we're together now" Charlie's grin grew bigger.

"I guess so" Joey grinned. "Wow, it's been a while since I've had a girlfriend"

"How long?" Charlie asked.

"About 4 years" Joey frowned at the thoughts of Emily entering her head.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Charlie asked, placing her hand on Joey's leg to comfort her as she noticed the frown on her new girlfriends face.

"No, we'll save the skeletons for another time" Joey smiled and leaned in closer to Charlie's face.

"You've got skeletons?" Charlie grinned at Joey's closeness.

"Of course. We all have them" Joey smiled and leaned in to kiss Charlie on the lips.

---

"Hey Xaves" Ruby began as she and her fiancé walked along the beach. "Do you think I could come back to yours tonight? I just want to give Charlz and Joey their privacy"

"Yeah, fair enough. I'll have to ask Hugo and Martha, but I'm sure they'll be fine with it" Xavier smiled and kissed his girlfriend on her head.

"Hey Hugo" Xavier called out to his older brother who was walking in front of him.

"Yeah?"

"Is it alright if Rubes stays over for the night? Y'know, to give Charlie and Joey some alone time"

"That okay with you?" Hugo asked Martha, who nodded. "Yeah that's fine. But not funny business, even if you are engaged it doesn't mean you can...get into funny business" Hugo said, not really sure on how he should have phrased what he said.

"I am way too exhausted to even think about doing that" Ruby laughed and leaned on Xavier's shoulder.

"Yeah, it's been a really big weekend hasn't it?" Martha began. "I'm rather exhausted myself"

"Aww...so does that mean there's no funny business for us two?" Hugo frowned.

"Eww" Xavier said scrunching up his nose.

---

Charlie pushed Joey back on the couch and hopped on top of her, straddling her. Their kisses intensified. Joey reached down and ran her hand up Charlie's thigh; her fingers slid their way into Charlie's underwear and were welcomed by warmth and wetness. Charlie's body jerked at the touch of Joey's fingers, her right hand found its way up Joey's shirt and started to caress Joey's right breast. Both girls were now moaning into each others mouths. Joey inserted two fingers inside of Charlie, which made her girlfriend moan louder and she soon began to move back and forth against Joey's hand. Charlie, wanting to provide the same pleasure to her girlfriend, removed her hand from Joey's breast, undid the top two buttons on her jeans, and slid her hand down to Joey's most intimate and sensitive part of the female body. Joey's heart fluttered when she felt two of Charlie's fingers enter her, she let out a long moan and began to mirror Charlie's body movements. Both girls now moving rapidly against one another, their kisses had become second best, they finally tore their mouths apart and gazed into each others eyes, watching as the pleasure road through them both. Loud gasps and moans filled the lounge room. Charlie collapsed on top of Joey, breathing heavily into her neck. Joey lay grinning, trying to regain a normal breathing pattern. Charlie found the energy to prop herself up and face Joey.

"I think we should continue this upstairs" Charlie said with a wink.

"I think you're right" Joey replied with a wicked grin.

--

**Yet again, I apologise for the shortness and crappyness at the end there^**

**Chapter 30 will be longer and funner. **

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**Quick Question :**

**Over the last few weeks (especially over the last few days as my inspiration has kicked in) I have been writing a new Charlie/Joey story. I've written several chapters and I'm wondering if you would like me to post it up now. This meaning I will have 4 stories on here that are not completed. I'm still going to write and update my other 2 stories (Can't Fight This Feeling (sorry about the cliffhanger =/ haha!) and Second Chance) and of course I will be updating this one, if I post my other one up. On the plus side, as I mentioned earlier, I have 20 days of holidays coming up very shortly, which will mean I can get more writing done (most of this story was written during my last holidays). I'll give you a bit of information regarding my new story ;**

**-**

**It's set in high school, I've given almost everyone a new age, new living arrangements, new friends, new enemies, new life stories. It's been really fun writing this story as the characters have more humour and more secrets that I can play on...which makes the story even more interesting. I don't want to give too much away, haha. **

**-**

**So the question is : **

**-**

**Do you want me to post my new story up sooner rather than later?**

**-**

**Please let me know!.**

**-**

**MissToastie. **

**x**


	30. Chapter 30

**Thank you for the lovely reviews for the last chapter and for the answers to my question about posting my new story. As most of you have probably noticed, I posted it, haha. =).**

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**Enjoy this chapter! I had a nice big inspiration to write this just then. Literally just finished it. It's 4:40am! haha. **

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**MissToastie**

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**Chapter Thirty :**

Joey woke with a huge grin on her face as she could feel Charlie's naked body lying against her back, memories of last night came flooding back; Charlie singing the song to her, the two of them officially becoming a couple and then the perfect way to end the night; a hot and passionate love making session. Joey opened her eyes and glanced at the clock, it was nearing 9am.

Charlie slightly opened her eyes and yawned, she smiled when she realised she was spooning her new girlfriend; she sat up slightly and kissed Joey on her shoulder.

"Mmm, good morning boo" Joey grinned.

"Good morning, how did you sleep?" Charlie smiled as Joey rolled on to her back.

"So amazingly well" Joey stretched. "What about you?"

"Yeah pretty much the same" Charlie couldn't stop smiling, she leaned in and captured Joey's lips with her own.

---

"Ross, I do not feel comfortable arriving unannounced" Morag said as she and her husband pulled up outside his daughter's house.

"Don't worry about it, Morag. Charlie will be delighted to see us" Ross smiled and looked at Charlie's house. "Blinds and curtains are closed. Must be having a lazy Sunday morning"

"Half her luck" Morag said under her breath and looked at Ross as he took the keys out of the ignition and opened his door. "Ross, you just said yourself that Charlie must be having a lazy morning, you're hardly going to wake her up are you?"

"Of course I am. We just drove down from the city" Ross said as he got out of the car.

"Ross!" Morag called after her husband as she opened her passenger door. "Let us go to The Diner to get some breakfast, let the girls have a sleep in!"

"I want to have breakfast with my girls Morag, that's the whole point of coming down this early" Ross said before he knocked on the door.

---

Charlie slightly opened her mouth and ran her tongue over Joey's bottom lip; Joey opened her mouth and allowed Charlie to introduce her tongue to her own. Their kisses deepened. Charlie ran her fingers down Joey's naked body; she stopped inches away from the most heated part of her body. Joey pulled her mouth away from Charlie's and looked into her girlfriend's lust filled eyes.

"Tease" Joey grinned.

"Who me?" Charlie asked, returning the grin.

"Yeah you" Joey replied as she moved her self up the bed a little, so that Charlies hand slipped and was now on top of where Joey wanted it to be.

"Sneaky" Charlie said with a little laugh before she leaned in and kissed Joey on the lips, she let her index finger run down Joey's slit.

---

"Ross, they are obviously still sleeping" Morag said placing her hand on her hip.

"Well they can wake up, I want to see my girls" Ross said as he turned and walked around the side of the house, in direction of the back door.

"Oh for goodness sake" Morag shook her head and followed her husband around to the back of the house.

---

Charlie's thumb worked circles on Joey's clit, making her girlfriend moan into their kiss; Charlie slipped two fingers inside of Joey who arched her back and moaned even louder into the kiss.

---

Ross banged on the door and after a few moments he rang the door bell; pressing it 3 times.

"Why are you so eager to awake the girls?"

"Because I've missed them. Morag it's not a crime to want to see my daughters!" Ross said as he pressed the door bell one more time.

---

Joey pulled away from Charlie's mouth. "They're obviously eager for the door to be answered" Joey panted.

Charlie sighed, removed her fingers from inside of Joey, slid out of bed and wrapped her dressing gown around her. "I'll be back. Don't move a muscle" Charlie winked before she left the room and went downstairs.

---

"Maybe the reason the curtains are still closed is because no one is home"

"Maybe you're right Morag" Ross said and turned to walk away from the door, stopping as he heard the door being opened.

"Dad?"

"Top of the morning Charlie" Ross smiled at his daughter and walked up and hugged her. "You certainly took your time"

"I was in bed. What are you doing here?" Charlie asked

"Oh thanks' Charlie, you really know how to make an old man feel welcomed!"

"No, I didn't mean it like that."

"I know you didn't, I just wanted to come and see my girls. May we come in?" Ross asked his oldest daughter.

"Ah" Charlie began. "Of course you can" She said, stepping out of the door way to allow her father and step-mother to come in. "Hi Morag"

"Good morning Charlie. I'm sorry we are here so early" Morag smiled.

"That's fine" Charlie smiled and gestured for the two to walk into the lounge room. "Take a seat and I'll go get changed"

---

Joey looked up at the door as she heard it open and her grin suddenly disappeared as she saw the frown on Charlie's face.

"What's wrong?" Joey asked.

"My Dad and Morag are here" Charlie said as she sat on the bed.

"As in here here? Like in the house here?" Joey frowned as Charlie nodded her head. "Bummer. Bad timing."

"Real bad timing" Charlie sighed. "S'pose we'd better get dressed and head downstairs"

"Suppose we had better" Joey nodded and the pair began to dress.

---

"I love what Charlie's done with the place" Morag commented on the lounge room as she looked around, noticing the new paint and new furniture, the place had certainly had a massive make-over since she was last there.

"Yes, it looks good." Ross agreed. "I wonder if Paige is home or at work?"

"Most likely at work. Doctor's work pretty much the same ridiculous hours that police officers do"

Ross laughed at his wife and placed his hand on her knee. "My darling, lawyers can work those ridiculous hours too, you know" He winked at his wife, who laughed and leaned in and kissed him.

---

"Do I look alright?" Joey asked as she stood in front of the mirror.

"You look perfect, except you look really nervous" Charlie said as she raised her eyebrow.

"Ah, yeah. First time meeting your dad and Morag. I want to make a good impression" Joey smiled.

"Oh, I totally forgot that you hadn't met them!" Charlie stood up and stood behind Joey, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend's waist. "They'll love you. I'm sure" Charlie grinned and placed a kiss on the back of Joey's head.

"Let's hope" Joey smiled and the two made their way down to the lounge room.

---

Ross looked up as he heard footsteps coming from the stairway. "Sorry to wake you Paigey"

Charlie and Joey both stopped in the door way and looked over at Ross.

"You're not Paige" Ross said looking at Joey with a confused look on his face. "Sorry about that, I thought you were my daughter's girlfriend." Ross stood up and walked over to Joey and shook her hand. "I'm Ross Buckton, Charlie and Ruby's father" He grinned.

"Ah...Hi" Joey forced a quick smile and looked over at Charlie. "I'm Joey"

"Nice to meet you Joey. This is my lovely wife Morag" Ross said gesturing his arm to the woman sat on the couch.

"Dad, Morag. There's something I have to tell you" Charlie spoke up.

"What's that sweetheart?" Ross asked as he made his way back to the couch.

"Paige and I are no longer together. We haven't been for many months"

"Oh" Ross paused. "Nice of you to let us know that Charlie. What happened?"

"Erm" Charlie looked at Joey and then back to the couch where her father and his wife sat. "I caught Paige cheating on me with a colleague of mine"

"Of yours?" Ross asked. "Oh I'm very sorry to hear that Charlie, I didn't think Paige had that in her. You deserve better than that!"

"I've got better than that now, Dad" Charlie smiled and held Joey's hand in hers.

Morag looked at the two girls holding hands. "I see. Well congratulations!" She smiled.

"Yes, congratulations" Ross said, also smiling. "I'm not going to lie, I'm very disappointed that I didn't get to catch up with Paige and ask her how work is going for her, but under the circumstances, I don't know if I now would want to catch up with her." Ross shook his head. "I can't believe she would cheat on you"

Joey shifted uncomfortably. An action not gone unnoticed my Morag.

"So Joey, come take a seat and tell us about you" Morag smiled and patted the seat next to her.

Joey looked at Charlie who smiled at her reassuringly and walked over with her girlfriend to take a seat on the lounge.

---

"Wakey wakey sleepy head" Xavier whispered into his fiancé's ear.

"Mm. 5 more minutes thanks" Ruby mumbled.

"C'mon babes." Xavier kissed Ruby on her cheek. "Wake up"

"Noooo" Ruby scrunched her face.

"Don't force me" Xavier said raising an eyebrow.

"You wouldn't." Ruby smiled.

Xavier rolled his eyes and began to tickle Ruby's stomach. "Oh I would"

"AAAAH XAVES!" Ruby said and wiggled out of bed and landed on the floor. "Oww! Butt muncher!"

"You're ever so mature Ruby Buckton" Xavier grinned.

Ruby poked her tongue out and glared at her fiancé. "Shuddup" She pouted.

"I want breakfast" Xavier announced.

"Well then get some." Ruby said looking up at Xavier who was smiling at her. "Don't smile at me like that, get your own breakfast, just because we're engaged doesn't mean I'm going to become your slave and give you everything you demand"

"You're not going to be the type of wife that cooks loads of yummy food and does housework are you?" Xavier pouted as he jokingly asked the question.

"Who do you think I am, Betty Crocker?" Ruby grinned and raised an eyebrow. "C'mon, you've awoken me, now get some food into me" Ruby stood up and dragged Xavier off the bed.

"Ha! Who do you think I am?" Xavier scoffed as he was lead out of his bedroom.

"Billy Crocker!" Ruby grinned and kissed Xavier on his nose.

---

"So how did the two of you meet?" Ross asked his daughter and her girlfriend.

"Err" Joey looked at Charlie.

"On a case" Charlie said, speaking quickly.

"A case?" Ross raised his eyebrow. "Charlie please don't tell me that you are dating a criminal!"

"What? No! Of course not Dad. Joey needed some help and I helped her"

"What by inviting her into your bed?" Ross asked raising his voice slightly.

"No Mr. Buckton" Joey spoke up. "I...I was raped and Charlie helped me speak up about it. I moved in and after things ended between Charlie and Paige, we got closer and one thing lead to another and last night, we made it official" Joey smiled and looked up at Ross who was eyeing her suspiciously. Joey, realising how her statement could have been taken, quickly spoke up. "I mean like we made it official by becoming girlfriends, not anything...like...that" Joey blushed and looked down.

Charlie looked at the bright red girl who sat beside her and started to laugh.

"Well, that's good to know" Ross laughed.

"In all seriousness, I'm very sorry to hear that you've had a rough time Joey" Morag smiled sympathetically and placed her hand on Joey's arm for comfort.

"Yes, me too Joey."

"Thank you" Joey smiled.

---

Ruby and Xavier held hands as they walked down the path.

"I can't believe you don't have any vegemite" Ruby grumbled.

"I'm sorry! No one eats it at home" Xavier laughed.

"How un-Australian of you!" Ruby shook her head and turned to walk down her street. "Ooh Dad's in town!" Ruby grinned and quickly pulled Xavier down the street.

---

"So how is everything with work, Charlie?" Ross asked his daughter.

"Yeah, everything's fine thank you dad. How is work for you?"

"Very well. I'm enjoying every moment of it. I'm very much glad that I cut my time back to half of what I used to do" Ross smiled and looked up as he saw his youngest daughter walk in the room. "Hello Rubyroo!"

"Dad!" Ruby grinned and ran to her father and hugged him. "How are you? I've really missed you!!" Ruby smiled and then looked at Morag. "Hi Morag" She said before hugging her step mother.

"Hello Ruby" Morag smiled at the young girl.

"I'm good my darling girl. I've missed you as well. You're looking well" Ross smiled and looked over at Xavier standing in the doorway. "Hello Xavier, how are you?"

"Good thank you Mr. Buckton. Yourself?"

"I'm good thank you; I'm always good when I'm around my three favourite girls"

"So, Ruby how was your birthday?" Morag asked.

"Amazing, Morag, really amazing!" Ruby grinned and placed her hands together.

Ross looked up at his seventeen year old daughters hands and saw a shiny ring on her finger.

"Ah. Ruby, what is that?" Ross asked, nodding to Ruby's finger.

"Oh" Ruby grinned and looked at her hand. "That's the main reason my birthday was as good as it was! Xavier proposed and I said yes" Ruby's grin grew bigger.

"What?"

"Xaves and I are engaged." Ruby spoke, looking at her father and the look on his face. "We're getting married"

"Over my dead body!" Ross raised his voice. "You are not getting married Ruby Buckton!"


End file.
